Kazakhstan warns of tighter water supply in Syr Darya basin after regional droughtKazakhstan expects reduced water availability in the Syr Darya River basin this irrigation season due to last year’s drought and lower upstream reservoir levels, Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Nurzhan Nurzhigitov said on Tuesday.“This agricultural season will be affected by the consequences of the 2025 drought. In the Syr Darya basin, current reservoir storage in neighboring countries is 1.6 billion cubic meters lower than a year earlier,” Nurzhigitov said at a government meeting in Astana on Tuesday.He said the reservoirs will be accumulating water during the summer, with inflows to Kazakhstan projected at around 70% of the long-term average, signaling low-water conditions and risks for downstream irrigation.Similar constraints are seen in the Shu and Talas basins, where Kirov Reservoir is 78% full, down 89 million cubic meters year-on-year, and Orto-Tokoy is at 83%, down 79 million cubic meters. Below-normal flows are also expected in the Talas basin, while Shu is forecast at 50–75% of the long-term average, the minister said.As of May 5, southern reservoirs held 26.2 billion cubic meters, up 500 million cubic meters from a year earlier, but risks persist in individual facilities, including Kurta Reservoir in Almaty region, where storage is 64 million cubic meters, down 38 million cubic meters year-on-year.Shu–Talas reservoirs are 81% full, though low levels in Kyrgyz upstream facilities remain a concern, the minister said.Kazakhstan has reduced its 2026 water intake limit from 1.2 billion to 900 million cubic meters and set irrigation allocations at 3.2 billion cubic meters for Kyzylorda region and 3.8 billion cubic meters for Turkestan region, with crop patterns adjusted accordingly. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX