Water Resources and Irrigation Vice Minister Answers Questions about Preventing Floods in 2025

The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation addressed the state of rivers and reservoirs in Kazakhstan, explaining why spring floods are a recurring issue and how much funding has been allocated to tackle the problem, Orda.kz reports.

At a press conference held by the Central Communications Service on 31 March 2025, journalists asked Vice Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Nurlan Aldamzharov how many reservoirs Kazakhstan would need to prevent floods from becoming disasters.

Of course, we will have flood periods every year. This is the hydrological cycle of the rivers and the climate conditions in general, so we have such flood situations every year,
 said Nurlan Aldamzharov.

According to the Vice Minister, this year’s flooding is under control and more stable than last year's. The Ministry received funding to restore infrastructure damaged in last year’s floods.

At the end of 2024, we were allocated about 29 billion tenge to prepare for the flood period and restore those hydraulic structures that were damaged by previous floods. Now this work is almost complete, we will commission some facilities by the end of this year,
 the Deputy Minister assured.

Kazakhstan has 405 reservoirs that store around 80 billion cubic meters of water.

I think these reservoirs are enough for the current flood situation. Also, by 2030, it is planned to build 42 reservoirs, they will be in those areas where flood flows are short-term. In these places, we really do not have enough reservoirs yet. These are mainly Qyzylorda, Jambyl, Aqmola, East Kazakhstan and West Kazakhstan regions. And there are only 10 regions where new reservoirs will be built.

The Ministry reports that large reservoirs in the north are filled to 81% on average. In the south, they are at 83%, in the west 59%, in the east 84%, and in central regions 79%.

The peak flooding in Aqtobe and West Kazakhstan has passed, and overall, the situation at reservoirs remains stable with round-the-clock monitoring in place.

Meanwhile, reports previously surfaced that Uil village residents had to travel by boat. The village is located in the Aqtobe region. In other regions, overflows and flooding have occurred on highways.

Original Author: Anastasia Prilepskaya