Methodological aspects of river basin management and the integrated assessment of water resources in the context of Kazakhstan’s environmental security

Abstract

This article presents a systematic study of environmental security issues in the Republic of Kazakhstan in the context of effective water resource management. The methodological basis of the study is a comprehensive analysis of transboundary risks and water scarcity, conducted using verified statistical data and the latest findings from state monitoring programmes. The authors analyse the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of surface and groundwater in the country’s eight river basins, paying particular attention to the critical dependence of the national water balance on transboundary inflows, which account for 46 per cent of total available resources.

The study identified and classified the key determinants of the region’s water vulnerability: natural spatial and temporal unevenness in runoff distribution, a high degree of infrastructure deterioration (resulting in losses of up to 60 per cent during transmission) and progressive anthropogenic pollution of water bodies, reaching quality classes 4 and 5. The article examines in detail the evolution of the regulatory framework and the effectiveness of government strategies (the ‘Drinking Water’, ‘Ak Bulak’, ‘Nurly Zhol’ and ‘Strategy to 2030’ programmes) in the field of modernising the water sector