Resources of river runoff of Kazakhstan

Abstract

The role of river runoff resources is very important for Kazakhstan – the country located deep within the continent, with an arid climate, and experiencing water shortage. With such a geographical location, the hydrological regime of rivers is characterized by the considerable spatiotemporal variability, thereby complicating the water resousrces management. The issue of evaluating water resources is particularly relevant not only from a scientific point of view. In recent years, it has gained socio-economic and political nature due to the increasing role of anthropogenic factors (including geopolitical ones), as well as increasingly more noticeable changes in the global and regional climate. Based on hydrometric information using modern methodology, the water resources of eight water-resources basins (WRBs) on the territory of Kazakhstan have been estimated in the context of water-resources regions.