Roles and issues of water users' associations for sustainable irrigation and drainage in the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan in Central Asia ; USCID fourth international conference

Abstract

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California. ; Includes bibliographical references. ; The Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan in the Aral Sea basin in Central Asia have some of the largest irrigation and drainage infrastructure in the world. In the Soviet era, a huge amount of irrigation and drainage infrastructure was constructed by the government, mainly to increase the production of cotton and wheat. However, the irrigation and drainage infrastructure has severely deteriorated since the independence of the Central Asian countries in 1991, mainly due to the lack of necessary funds for operation, maintenance, and rehabilitation. The governments intend to establish and develop water users' associations (WUAs), which are expected to play an important role in operation and maintenance (O&M) of the irrigation and drainage infrastructure. However, the use of WUAs for O&M is quite new in Central Asia. Therefore, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and other donors have been implementing projects not only for the rehabilitation of the deteriorated irrigation and drainage infrastructure, but also for the establishment and development of WUAs. The roles of WUAs for O&M in Central Asia are very important in having an efficient and sustainable irrigation and drainage system. The roles and issues facing WUAs in the Kyrgyz Republic, which has adopted a rapid approach to reform, and Uzbekistan, which has taken a gradual approach, were reviewed in this study.