Turkmen Water Supply Needs Major Overhaul

To ensure that Turkmenistan’s five million people have continued access to drinking water, a major new programme of work is needed to install mains networks and purification plants, NBCentralAsia experts say. They also recommend charging users for the water they use in order to limit consumption.

A water purification plant producing 150,000 cubic metres of drinking water a day was launched in Dashoguz, a provincial center in northern Turkmenistan, in mid-May. At a meeting of the local council of elders, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov proposed a general programme to ensure water supplies for all residential areas in the country.

Turkmenistan’s largely desert terrain means it is constantly short of water. As well as canals fed by the river Amu Darya, water comes from desalination and purification plants drawing on the Caspian Sea, but this is not enough to meet the country’s needs.

The supply system is in need of renovation, and the quality of water is often poor.

The situation is worse in rural areas, where half the population lives. Observers say people there often drink water from open wells and irrigation canals, polluted by the corpses of domestic animals and household rubbish.

“There are high concentrations of coliform bacteria and traces of heavy metals, petroleum products and salts in this water,” said one local resident. “This poses a real threat to people’s health. For example, one cannot wash one’s hair in this water as it immediately becomes wiry.”

Tajigul Begmedova, who heads the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights based in Bulgaria, said surveys that local doctors had conducted for her organisation showed that “the overwhelming majority of the population suffers from complaints like gallstones in the kidneys and renal system, caused by poor-quality water.”

Even in large provincial centres like Turkmenabat, Dashoguz, Balkanabat, water is available only three times a day, an hour at a time. People there install water storage tanks in their apartments.

The problem is exacerbated in summer, when temperatures rise above 40 degrees Celsius and more water is diverted for irrigation. People also use water to irrigate gardens and vegetable plots.

Last July, water supply problems in the Caspian port city of Turkmenbashi sparked two protests. In one of these, about 100 people staged a protest near the Central Post Office after staff there refused to send a telegram to President Berdymuhammedov informing him of problems with the mains water supply. Give days later, a group of women picketed the city mayor’s office demanding that something be done about the drinking water supply.

The government is currently addressing the problem with help from international donors, under a national strategy for raising living standards in rural areas. NBCentralAsia observers say a specific programme to provide safe drinking water is essential.

“Instead of building luxury hotels and other unimportant projects, the authorities could be resolving the drinking water problem,” said a local media observer. “There are no financial constraints.”

Annadurdy Khajiev, a Turkmen economic analyst based abroad, estimates that the country needs three times the number of purification plants it has now. He says the authorities would do well to gather statistical evidence of consumption levels, and increase production of bottled water.

An observer in Dashoguz calls for a comprehensive approach to supply and demand, replacing metal mains pipes with plastic ones and installing meters in homes so that people pay for the water they use.

In Turkmenistan, water is provided free of charge, along with gas, electricity and salt.

“People don’t pay for water, so everyone takes it for granted,” the observer said.

This article was produced as part of IWPR’s News Briefing CentralAsia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.