Lessons on cooperation building to manage water conflicts in the Aral Sea Basin; Technical documents in hydrology: pc-cp series; Vol.: 11; 2003

2.3.2. Legal Doctrines 
Joint activities within a framework of legal documents and regional cooperation face a 
range of problems in representing different views that create obstacles to successful 
development of such activities: 
● 
Upstream countries insist on revising former interstate water quotas in view of 
the restrictions imposed on their development, while downstream countries try to 
keep the status quo. 
● 
Upstream countries are particularly interested in increasing use of water for 
hydroelectric purposes, and insist on schedules of releases from main reservoirs 
that are favorable to themselves, or demand compensation from downstream 
countries. 
● 
Downstream countries do not cover the costs of stream-flow regulation, since in 
their opinion this regulation does not meet their interests. 
● 
All the countries have declared in their laws a right of sovereignty over their 
water resources, forgetting that most (or a substantial share) of these waters 
relate to transboundary rivers or international waterways and are subject to 
special considerations. 
● 
The countries, particularly upstream ones, do not want to recognize rules of the 
international water code such as “do not harm” and “polluter pays.” 
● 
All the countries in practice ignore environmental problems, including in-stream 
requirements. 
In the meantime it is necessary to shift from clearly opposed positions to a search for 
mutual compromises and to the creation of a legal basis that takes account of the 
states’ concept of “absolute territorial integrity.” There is no other way for Central 
Asian countries. 
2.4. Financial Aspects of the Water Sector 
Water management activity in the Central Asian states is funded by state budgets and 
by payments for water services. In different countries the state contribution to water 
management varies between 40 and 100 percent. Actual costs for operation in all 
countries of the region are not more than 50 percent of the amount needed for proper 
maintenance (see Table 6). 
Water charges could be conditionally divided into three elements: 
● 
payment for water as a resource 
● 
payment for services on water delivery to farm boundaries
● 
payment for services connected with the operation and maintenance of irrigation 
and drainage networks. 
The amount charged varies in different countries, depending on government policy 
and state participation in water management sector support and development, water 
resources conservation, pricing policy for agricultural production, and so on. All kinds 
of water users except agricultural ones pay for water as a resource. The payment, as 
a rule, is symbolic. Water users who pay for water are industrial enterprises, power 
stations, material enterprises, and the like. These enterprises pay in accordance with 
the established rate for the current year, which depends on user category and water 
source (surface or underground). Water services for irrigation water are payable in 
Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan. In Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan 
irrigation consumers pay only for excessive water use beyond a set limit. 
22 

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Table 6. 
Actual operational costs of water management in Central Asian countries 
and their conformity with demand