The Amudarya River Basin

• Published in: The Adaptive Water Resource Management Handbook pp. 143 - 155
• Main Authors: Schlüter, M., Hirsch, D., Herrfahrdt-Pähle, Giordano, R., Khamirzaeva, M., Khasankhanova, G., Kranz, N., Liersch, S., Matin, N., Salokhiddinov, A., Savitsky, A., Siderius, C., Toryannikova, R.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2010
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Basin Wide Water Management; Amudarya River; Group Model Building; Transboundary Scale; Water Allocation Planning; Soil Salinity; Environmental Flows; Water User Associations; Open Source Software; AWM; WUA Member; Transboundary Level; Low Water Years; EU Water Framework Directive; Water Resources Management Efficiency; Homestead Producers; Adaptive Monitoring; GIS Saga; Aral Sea; Washington State University; Ministry Of The Environment; High Mountain Areas; Regional Water Managers; Water Resources Management; MTF
• ISBN: 9781844077922; 1844077926
• DOI: 10.4324/9781315065984-9

The Amudarya River flows for 2540km from the Pamir Mountains through the Turan lowlands to the Aral Sea (see Figure 9.1). Its runoff of approximately 79km3 is generated by glacier and snowmelt in the high mountain areas of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan. Most water resources are used for irrigated cotton and wheat production in the semi-arid downstream areas of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Water is a strategic and vital resource for the region's economies with agriculture accounting for approximately 30 per cent of national GDPs. Hence, water management is largely governed by the priorities of agricultural production. This increasingly leads to conflicts with the needs of other users such as hydropower generation and the fisheries in the floodplains of the river delta.