Kazakhstan digitizes over 23,000 water facilities under new national system
Kazakhstan’s National Water Resources Information System has been put into full-scale operation, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said during a staff meeting chaired by Minister Nurzhan Nurzhigitov, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The information system was developed as part of the implementation of directives from the head of state. It brings together data on water bodies, water-management infrastructure, water users, groundwater and other elements of the sector. Its main objective is to create a single, reliable and up-to-date database to support management decision-making.
According to the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, data on more than 23,000 water bodies have so far been digitized and structured in the information system. These include 17,758 rivers, 3,148 lakes and 1,207 hydraulic structures.
In addition, around 3,000 organizations and more than 4,000 users have been registered in the system. Around 9,000 digital passports for water-management and hydraulic structures have also been entered into the system.
The system has also received more than 2,200 primary water accounting reports and more than 1,300 2-TP reports.
“The functionality of the National Water Resources Information System includes maintaining the water balance, accounting for and analyzing water use, monitoring the condition of reservoirs, working with data on transboundary water bodies, as well as space-based monitoring,” Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Nurzhan Nurzhigitov said.
“The implementation of the NWIS will make it possible to establish a comprehensive, multi-level water resources management system for the sustainable development of the economy and ensuring the country’s water security,” he added.
The ministry has also introduced an Early Water Demand Forecasting System on a pilot basis. The system provides for electronic agreements with consumers for water delivery through canals, online payments and automated calculations of water resources.
The process of concluding agreements has now been fully transferred to an electronic format. Since the beginning of the year, more than 29,000 agreements have been signed with agricultural producers.
Earlier, Qazinform reported Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan deepen cooperation on transboundary water resources.