Uzbekistan is worried with existing intention of upper stream countries to carry out policy on hydro-energy dictates as they want to shift from irrigation-ecology regime to energy regime. The paper said that the trend is developing more and more and in the result, the region suffers from water-shortage in summer. The paper noted that Toktagol, Nurek and Kayrakkum water reservoirs were constructed for irrigation purpose, but upper stream countries want to use them for energy generation purpose.

Hydroegoism became pressure tool for several years and it is used by upper stream countries to decrease water supply in summer without taking into account interests of lower stream countries, especially when there is sharp demand for water in agriculture sector. Official reason for that is to withdrawing water for electricity production, the paper adds.

In his speech on 20 September 2010 at the UN Summit on MDGs in New York, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said any decrease of the watercourse of Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers means a radical disturbance of the existing fragile environmental balance in the entire vast region. “In these conditions any attempts to implement projects drafted 30-40 years ago, yet in the Soviet period, to construct in the upper stream of these rivers the large-scale hydropower facilities with gigantic dams, and moreover, if to take into account that the seismicity of the area of forthcoming construction makes up 8-9 points, - all of these may inflict an irreparable damage to environment and will be a reason for the most dangerous man-caused catastrophes which we have been witnessing for over the last years”, he said.

In order to protect environment and economy use of water resources, Uzbekistan carries out measures to decrease volume of irrigated lands and starts to sowing agriculture crops, which require less water. In early 1990s, Uzbekistan used 50% of irrigated lands for cotton and other part for food crops. Currently, the volume of irrigated lands decreased to 30%, and other part is sowed with grains, food and forage crops. In the result, Uzbekistan decreased water offtake decreased from 64 billion cubic meters in 1980s to 53 billion cubic meters a year.

The newspaper wrote that despite adopted measures on saving water resources by some Central Asian states, efforts of other states turned trans-boundary rivers not only to economic issue, but to regional political problem. It added that upper stream countries are creating misbalance of water resources in upper and lower stream of Amudarya and Syrdarya.

The newspaper said that such negative impact could bring to water-shortage situation in 2008, when the volume of water at Nurek reservoir at the beginning of vegetation period (1 April) made up 5.9 billion cubic meters and at the end of vegetation period (1 September) 9.7 billion cubic meters.

The paper said that inflow of water at Nurek reservoir was 7.2 billion cubic meters in June-July, while leakage volume was 5 billion cubic meters. This is another evidence that Nurek hydro power station is working in damage of vegetation flow and irrigated lands of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Along with shifting from irrigation regime to energy regime, Tajikistan is planning to realize complex of programmes on use of water resources of Zarafshan river to irrigation-energy purposes, which envisages withdraw of additional 1.5 cubic kilometers of water from river to irrigate 130,000 hectares in Tajikistan.

The paper also said that construction of Zarafshan hydro power station with water reservoirs can negatively impact water users of Samarkand and Navoi regions of Uzbekistan.

Narodnoye slova underlined that these projects at trans-boundary rivers are realized without taking into account universal international agreements on water rights within the UN.

The paper recalled that Uzbekistan calls for holding independent expertise of all large hydro power objects in the region. It added that the call is dictated with real threat of ecologic, man-caused and economic characters.

The newspaper said that hydroegoism is showed in such actions as worsening natural environment due to ignoring ecologic rights and interests of neighbouring states, intention to get immediate political-economic benefit thanks to shift from irrigation regime to energy regime, inflicting economic damage to lower stream countries of Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers, deliberate refusal of construction of small hydro power stations instead of large and dangerous dams in seismic zones, etc.

It added that hydroegoism will be reason for global ecologic catastrophes in Central Asia, where some 50 million people live.