Degree of Master of

1993- present

The present stage of the AALS development is characterized by two very important features.

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The first feature is that after the collapse of the USSR, the new Central Asian republics began to launch independent systems for water and energy consumption. Namely, the coordinated operation of the Naryn-Toktogul cascade was disrupted. In these conditions Kyrgyzstan started to increase consumption of its electricity due to lack of fuel resources. Starting from 1993 Kyrgyzstan began to use the Toktogul Reservoir (Figure 5) located in the Naryn River for energy production rather than for irrigation purposes. Energy production in the Toktogul Reservoir entailed substantial water discharges from the Chardara reservoir to the Aydar-Arnasay lakes during winter and spring times, 6,0-8,5 km³ on average (Kurbanov and Primov 2006).
Figure 5. The Toktogul Reservoir
According to the Central Asian Research Hydro-meteorological Institute, 38,64 km³ of water was discharged to the AALS during 1993-2006, i.e. the largest discharges were observed in 1994 – 9,3 km³, 1995 – 4,0 km³, 1998 – 3,14 km³, and 2000 – 4,76 km³. These discharges led to increase of lakes’ overall volume and made the Aydarkul lake the third largest in Central Asia with a volume amounting to 41 km³ (in contrast, the Aral Sea – 109 km³, Sarykamysh Lake – 46 km km³ ) (Mahmudova 2004a).
The second feature is the very complicated relationships between Central Asian republics, in particular, between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan are being observed after the dissolution of the USSR. Despite several agreements concluded in 1995-2000 focused on the rational use of water and energy resources in the Basin of the Syrdarya River, the republics concerned still cannot manage the issues about how much water should be discharged to the lakes and how much water should be used for irrigation purposes (Shamsiev and Chembarisov 2007). In other words, water discharges to the AALS are conducted without any coordinated actions of the republics, i.e. amount of water that should be discharged to the lakes and used for irrigation purposes is not agreed on and it is not clear how the system of water management works (Ryabcev 2005).
Additionally, seasonal water distribution for irrigation and energy purposes without considering the complex approach steadily results in decrease of water supply in the Toktogul Reservoir. For instance, by the 1998 vegetation period, the Toktogul volume reduced to 7,2 billion m³. Besides, between 1999-2001 vegetation periods volume of drawdown from the Toktogul Reservoir increased up to 3 billion m³ due to additional charge of the Naryn- Toktogul cascade. Thus, it caused additional water discharges from the Chardara reservoir to the AALS (Ryabcev 2005).

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In reliance on these two AALS features, the author suggested that this period of time should be attributed a high importance and therefore, it can be identified as a new development stage.

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