OREANDA-NEWS. April 7, 2009. The 1,100-km Karakum River crosses Turkmenistan from east to west. Each year it takes ten billion of cubic meters of water from the Amu Darya River to irrigate over one million hectares of agricultural lands and supply water to the industrial enterprises and population in four regions of the country. It is difficult to find a similar hydraulic facility in the world, which has such a profound impact on social development of the vast territories and all the components of the geographical environment.

For 50 years since the beginning of construction the hand-made river has considerably changed. Nowadays it is the main hydraulic facility in the country, its major waterway that helps to solve the water problems of different regions. Hundreds of engineering works operate on the Karakum River satisfying the growing needs of agricultural sector and industries for water and supplying uninterruptedly drinking water to urban and rural population. The work to improve the infrastructure of this unique hydraulic facility is carried on today. More storage reservoirs are to be put into operation this year. The Zeyid water storage reservoir is the largest one at the headwork of the River. After a dam is put into operation this manmade lake will be capable to receive as many as 250 million cubic metres of water from the Amu Darya River and increase its capacity up to 1.5 billion cubic metres. After the facilities at the Khauzkhan water storage reservoir are reconstructed its capacity will be increased as high as 300 million cubic meters. The volume of water in the storage reservoir will be increased up to one billion cubic metres and in future up to 1.5 billion that will allow improving water supply for agricultural purposes. This year the water storage facilities will increase supply of water as high as 550 million cubic metres to the Mary and Ahal Velayat for agricultural purposes. Today time the total pondage of four reservoirs on the Karakum River – Zeyid, Khauzkhan, Kopetdag and Kurtli is over two billion cubic metres.

The bed of the Karakum River requires special attention. The specialists of the Karakumderyasuvhojalyk Association carry out the work to widen and deepen the riverbed. On the instructions of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov the Association bought high-powered earth-moving machines and equipment. At present the riverbed nearby Mary, Ak Bugday Etrap, Ruhabat, Geoktepe and other areas is under reconstruction. River transport workers effectively apply the biological methods to clean the water reservoirs and riverbed. Recently hydraulic engineers have started to lay the bed of the channel with the capacity of 20 cubic metres per second which will supply water to the Serdar Etrap, Balkan Velayat.

Several projects on construction of the bridges on the Karakum River have been launched this year. The highway bridge is under construction nearby Izgant settlement. Construction of the highway and railway bridges, which will cross the river nearby the Zakhmet station, and the bridge, which will connect the northern and southern sections of the ring road in Ashgabat, will be launched in the near future. Moreover, the work to clean and improve the banks of the Karakum River is carried on for the first time over its history. The old earthfill dams were destroyed. The territory along the riverbed was cleaned and planted with greenery. This territory is distributed among farmers associations, ministries and departments, which should take care of green zones planted along the Karakum River. This work will be carried out in the localities nearby Ashgabat and Ak Bugday Etrap as well.

By increasing the capacity and storage volume of the water storage reservoirs and riverbed the growing needs of agricultural sector for water will be satisfied in the near future.