Alternative Water Allocation in Kyrgyzstan: Lessons from the Lower Colorado River Basin and New South Wales

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Water
2010
, 
2
, 510-529; doi:10.3390/w2030510 
 
water 
ISSN 2073-4441 
www.mdpi.com/journal/water 
Article 
Alternative Water Allocation in Kyrgyzstan: Lessons from the 
Lower Colorado River Basin and New South Wales 
Akmal Karimov 
1, 
*, Murat Yakubov 
1
, Andrew Noble 
2
, Kahramon Jumabaev 
1
,
Oyture Anarbekov 
1
, Jusipbek Kazbekov 
1
, Nazir Mirzaev 
3
 and Ahmad Alimdjanov 
3

1 
Central Asia Regional Office, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Osie str., 

Tashkent, 100000, Uzbekistan; E-Mails: [e-mail] (M.Y.);
[e-mail] (K.J.); [e-mail] (O.A.); [e-mail] (J.K.)
 
2 
International Water Management Institute (IWMI), National Agriculture and Forestry Research 
Institute, Ban Nongviengkham, Xaythany District, Vientiane, Laos; E-Mail: [e-mail] 
3
The Scientific Information Center of the Interstate Coordination Water Commission. Karasu-4/11, 
Tashkent, 100187, Uzbekistan; E-Mails: [e-mail] (N.M.); [e-mail] (A.A.) 
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [e-mail];
Tel: [phone]; Fax: + 99-873-237-0317. 
Received: 27 July 2010; in revised form: 13 August 2010/ Accepted: 20 August 2010 /
Published: 24 August 2010 
Abstract:
Focus group discussions and a modeling approach were applied to determine 
policy and regulatory refinements for current water allocation practices in Kyrgyzstan. 
Lessons from the Lower Colorado River basin, Texas and New South Wales, Australia were 
taken into consideration. The paper analyzes the impact of adopting some of these 
interventions within the socio-environmental context that currently prevails in Kyrgyzstan. 
The optimization model for water distribution at the river-basin scale was developed using 
GAMS 2.25 software. Application of the model to the Akbura River basin indicated 
efficiencies in the proposed institutional rules especially in low water years.