Vohidjon Akhmadjonov, Deputy head of the Department on water balance and water saving technologies of Agriculture and Water Management Ministry of Uzbekistan, said that recently there are a lot of misleading information at mass media and questioned when this disinformation flow will end.

Akhmadjonov called the authors to replace verbal charges to well-founded facts and realities on eater user and hydro power at Amudarya and Syrdarya basins. He regretted that senior officials are misleading with their statements.

He said that recent statements of Tajik Foreign Minister Khamrokhon Zarifi and Land Reclamation and Water Resources Minister Rahmat Bobokalonov on filling of water reservoir of Rogun hydro power station are not supported with serious and well-founded arguments and mislead own and international community. He said that the statements that water reservoir will be filled within 17 years due to Tajik water quotes and that it will not affect downstream countries are nonsense.

After the station is constructed, the reservoir will be filled within 7-8 years - initially up to the level of the dead volume (DV), and then to meet designed pressures and rates (DPR). This means that the water from Vakhsh River will be withdrawn during vegetation period, mainly in June-August, (during pre-vegetation period Rogun water reservoir will not be filled as there is need expanses for work of Nurek, Baypazin, Golovnoy and Sangtudin hydro power stations and to cover winter electricity deficit), Akhmadjonov said. He said that at 1,200 m DV variant, 5 cubic kilometers of water will be needed to fill reservoir of Rogun station up to dead volume.

Akhmadjonov recalled that Germany’s Lahmeyer came to the same conclusions regarding the schedule of filling of the reservoir during their feasibility study in 2006. He added that Tajik officials, frequently using feasibility study of this company as “independent ecological expertise”, for some reason, hold back about technical conclusions of foreign specialists when the issue concerns filling the reservoir and its impact to trans-boundary rivers’ inflow.

Experts’ calculation, carried out for middle water content period, shows that at preliminary filling of Rogun stations it is expected that additionally up to 1.5-2 cubic kilometers of water will be withdrawn during vegetation period. If filling period falls to water shortage, the water withdraw will increase and water deficit in downstream countries for several times. At water deficit risks in basin, Tajikistan could not limit water supply to its water complex and allocate (from allocated quotes) water for filling Rogun, he added.

According to experts, joint energy work at the Rogun station, together with the Nurek hydroelectric power knot, will cut water discharge from Nurek reservoir, which will not be enough to cover water deficit of Uzbekistan during water shortage.

"This system of water reservoirs is very real if we take into account that electricity generated by the station will be put on sale and Nurek will be forced to operate in a modern regime, covering Tajikistan's own energy needs," he said.

Akhmadjonov added that there are doubts about the calculations of senior Tajik diplomats concerning the volume of water resources in the Aral Sea basin, including those contained in the reservoirs.

He informed Tajik Foreign Minister that there are 55 reservoirs with a total volume of 19.8 cubic kilometers in Uzbekistan. About five cubic kilometers are unused or so called “dead volume”. The used volume is about 15 cubic kilometers. The total volume of only two reservoirs in Tajikistan - Nurek and Kairakum - is about 15 cubic kilometers.

"The mathematical calculations Zarifi concerning the actual volumes of water in the Aral Sea and the water accumulated in the Uzbek reservoirs must be corrected," he said. "It is not difficult to obtain real data on the water situation in the region at the current level of development of information communication. According to the recent estimates, the current level of the Aral Sea is more than 70 cubic kilometers. A comparison of figures 15 and 70 is elementary arithmetic. The used volume of water reservoirs in Uzbekistan is almost five times less than the current level of the Aral Sea."

The Uzbek expert questioned such facts garbling and said it is directed at diverting international community’s attention from calls on independent international expertise of Rogun station. He said that calls of Tajik officials to conduct expertise of reservoirs at downstream countries have no grounds. He added that international norms do not envisage practice of expertise of reservoirs in downstream.

Akhmadjonov said that Uzbekistan lifted issue on security of hydro power stations to the state policy issue. He said that Uzbekistan adopted special legal and institutional system on ensuring security of hydro power stations.

The Uzbek expert said that there are water shortage for needs of population and economy of Central Asian states. He added that construction of such large stations like Rogun and filling its huge reservoir will increase water deficit in downstream countries. Launch of Rogun station will decrease inflow of Vakhsh River in summer period and total inflow of Amurdarya, which will aggravate Aral tragedy.

Akhmadjonov underlined that the main issue, which concerns population of downstream, is inexistence of concrete guarantees that Rogun knot will be used in irrigation-energy regime as envisaged in preliminary project and it will not harm ecology and economies of downstream countries. In case of use of the station in energy regime, at least 7-8 cubic kilometers will be withdrawn from Vakhsh river in vegetation period, which will result in catastrophic consequences in water supply in downstream countries.

He also regretted that Tajikistan, which uses one of the highest dams – Nurek hydro power station and construct highest dam in the world – Rogun hydro power station, did not created legal and institutional mechanism on ensuring security of hydro power stations. He also pointed to the fact that the country does not have enough skilled specialists.

He said that Tajikistan is the country of earthquakes, mudflow and landslides, which threatens to security of hydro power stations. He said that in various years, the hydro power stations of the country affected from natural disasters.

He underlined that all these problems cause serious concerns of downstream countries of Central Asia and accidents at hydro power stations can have catastrophic consequences.

Expert concluded that instead of correct and weighted assessment with social-economic and energy problems in Tajikistan, some officials of the country are placing responsibility to neighboring states, creating enemy image.