TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, December 28. Water-use inefficiencies directly contribute to the high carbon footprint of irrigation services, the latest Uzbekistan Country Climate and Development Report by the World Bank says, Trend reports.
The Bank noted that pumping water for irrigation consumes 15–20 percent of the electricity used in Uzbekistan, which is equivalent to more than 3 million tons of CO2 emissions every year, or about 2–3 percent of the country’s total emissions.
“Water-use inefficiencies directly contribute to the high carbon footprint of irrigation services, as more energy is spent to channel water through the system to compensate for high water losses. Conveyance losses are large because of aging irrigation infrastructure, with some systems reporting water loss rates of as much as 60 percent,” the bank’s report says.
WB analysts also noted that the Ministry of Water Resources of Uzbekistan plans to reduce energy consumption at 1,687 state-owned pumped irrigation systems from 8.2 kWh to 6 billion kWh in 2030.
“This will require major investments in upgrading equipment and modernizing 36 irrigation systems to improve water-use efficiency and energy efficiency. This will entail establishing a real-time automated monitoring and control system for electricity consumption at pumping stations and developing alternative energy sources.
In addition to the 5,000 pumps operated by the 1,687 state-owned pumping stations, there are 9.4 million pumping units on farms or managed by special service organizations (former water user associations). These stand to benefit from conversions to solar pumping and the shift to gravity-fed irrigation where feasible,” the WB experts explained.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan has allocated 22 trillion Uzbek soums ($1.8 billion) from the state budget for the upgrade of the water management system from 2021 through 2023.
According to Uzbekistan’s Minister of Water Resources, Shavkat Khamrayev, it is planned to allocate another 1.7 trillion soums ($139.2 billion) and additional loans in the amount of $300 million from international financial organizations for the improvement of water management systems in 2024.
