Will China preserve Lake Issyk-Kul with the waters of the Sary-Jazz River?
To preserve Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan cannot do without the participation of international donors. This opinion was expressed by former Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Felix Kulov.
He recalled that on May 30, at the meeting of the first Central Asia–Italy summit in Astana, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov raised the problem of preserving Lake Issyk-Kul, the water level in which has decreased significantly over the past century and a half due to climate change and anthropogenic impact.
“Since 1854, the water level in Issyk-Kul has fallen by almost 14 meters, the area of the water mirror has significantly decreased, and the volume of water has decreased. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, about 100-110 rivers flowed into the lake. It’s only 30-35 now. This is not just statistics, it is an alarming signal warning of a catastrophe that can be compared to the disappearance of the Aral Sea,” the president said.
Kulov noted that the topic of preserving our unique pearl was also raised in Soviet times. Then a project began to be developed to transfer part of the flow of the Sary-Jazz River to the Issyk-Kul basin.
“It was planned to build reservoirs in the canyon of the Sary-Jazz River and in the valley of its left tributary Inylchek. After filling them to 2 billion cubic meters, the water had to rise to the level of the tunnel entrance portal and flow through it to maintain Lake Issyk-Kul and to water crops,” Kulov said.
He noted that Sary-Jazz is the second most watery river in the country after Naryn. Five hydroelectric power stations were to be built on this river.
“Even at that time, the Chinese side, on whose territory the water of this river goes, agreed that up to 50 percent would go to maintain Lake Issyk-Kul. Taking into account our good-neighborly relations with China, there is confidence that even today the PRC leadership will not object to the resumption of the project to transfer part of the flow of the Sary-Jazz River to the Issyk—Kul basin,” the ex-premier expressed his opinion.
He also noted that this project is certainly not easy, it will require huge costs for carrying out a large amount of survey work, the construction of reservoirs, tunnels, etc.
“We don’t have such funds in the country’s budget, and we probably can’t do without the assistance of international organizations working in the field of environmental conservation. Therefore, there is hope that after the speech of the head of our state at this summit, the problem raised by him will receive appropriate support in the world community,” Felix Kulov concluded.
Вести.кд
Original (in Russian): Сохранит ли Китай озеро Иссык-Куль водами реки Сары-Джаз?
