Water resources of Turkmenistan

Abstract

In arid conditions of Turkmenistan featuring high air temperatures and very low precipitations, water becomes the synonym of life. Economic development of the rich natural resources of the country is wholly based on water resources use. Water factor plays the most important role in the country’s economy at all stages of its development. The river network is developed poorly. The water resources of the country are represented by large transborder rivers (Amu Darya, Tedjen, and Murghab), smaller rivers, springs, and karizes as well as groundwaters. The potential of natural resource use is limited by the renewable water reserves in different sources, first of all, in rivers. The main threat for the water resources of the country is a sustainable tendency to depletion and pollution of both surface and groundwaters caused by a complex of natural and anthropogenic factors, including decreasing precipitation. Steady shrinking of mountain glaciers being a source of replenishing river flow which may be intensified due to global climate warming will affect surface water runoff. The water resource issue is most acute for the north and northeast of Turkmenistan (Dashoguz Velajat and Darganatin Etrap of Lebapsky Velajat – the zone of the Aral environmental crisis).