Turkmenistan to Limit Water Use

The government of Turkmenistan has always prided itself on the free utilities it supplies to the population, but new legislation provides for an upper limit on water use, after which household and other consumers will have to pay. 

The precise limits will be set out in a separate document to be issued by the government.

To date, drinking water was supplied free to households up to a generous limit of 250 litres a day per person. Where average consumption was deemed excessive, the local authorities would install meters, but even then the annual cost was minimal.

Turkmenistan is an arid, largely desert state, and its infrastructure is crumbling, so the reality is that water provision is irregular in many areas.

"Our houses get water once every ten days according to a timetable," a female pensioner in the major Caspian port city of Turkmenbashi said. "I try to fill every container I have with water. It has to settle and go through a cotton filter as it’s murky."

A engineer said the city did not receive enough water to satisfy demand.

A new desalination plant started operating recently, which will process seawater from the Caspian. But experts say the mains distribution system is in need of a major overhaul to prevent leakage.

Ahal region in south-central Turkmenistan, where the capital Ashgabat is located, faces similar problems.

An official with the Ashgabat mayor’s office said the current situation was untenable.

"Water resources are being depleted and the population is growing. Yet water is being used as carelessly as in the old days," he said. "European Union experts were horrified when they conducted a local survey. On average, a citizen of Turkmenistan uses several times more water than any European."

A water service official in the capital pointed out that many residents used precious drinking water in a profligate manner.

"Look at what’s happening – drinking water is used to wash cars and water gardens. Wait till they start having to pay for it,” he said.

City residents say the water they get is not in fact of drinkable quality.

"Pour water into a bucket and you’ll see oily patches on the surface," a resident of an area of apartment blocks said. "How can we drink water like that? If they gave people decent drinking water, we’d pay for it."

A commentator in the city pointed out that local government was just as guilty, as the 300 fountains around the capital were run off the drinking water supply, as their mechanisms would clog up on less purified water.

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