Water levels are rising rapidly

Four Central Asian governments have reached agreement in a bid to avert serious flooding from a huge reservoir which is threatening to break its banks.

Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan struck the deal in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek to implement measures to prevent the Chardara reservoir from submerging nearby districts.

Water levels in the reservoir, which lies in southern Kazakhstan but is also used by Uzbekistan, have been rising for several months. Hundreds of homes have been flooded and damage is estimated at more than two million dollars.

Some 2,000 people have been evacuated from the area, as water levels in the reservoir and the Syr Darya river continued to rise. An area covering 600 square kilometres remains under water.

Most of Central Asia's water originates in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and flows down to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Wrangling

The Chardara reservoir has been at the centre of a continuing dispute between the governments of the region over how best to manage the available water and energy resources.

We cannot leave people living in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya under threat Kazakh Deputy Premier Akhmetzhan Yesimov

The states agreed in January to regulate the water flow to prevent the reservoir from overflowing. Kudaybergen Yerzhan, the official in charge of the reservoir, told the BBC at the time that the amount of water flowing into Chardara had been reduced as a result.

But, according to Kazakh media reports, water levels are now rising steeply once again. A thick layer of winter ice on the Syr Darya has hampered the flow of water out of the reservoir, and emergency workers have been drafted in to prevent further flooding.

With the spring thaws still to come, the chances of further flooding remain high.

New reservoir plan

Following this week's talks, the Kyrgyz government has reiterated its commitment to reduce the flow of water towards Chardara and both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have agreed to draw more water to prevent an overflow.

Kazakhstan is also considering other measures to prevent a repeat of this winter's difficulties. Deputy Prime Minister Akhmetzhan Yesimov told Kazakh Khabar TV that the answer may lie with the construction of a new reservoir which could be used to regulate water flow in the winter and spring.

"We cannot leave people living in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya under threat," he said, although he noted that neighbouring countries had lodged objections to the plan.

The danger of floods offers a sharp contrast with the environmental problems which Central Asia has faced in recent years.

The region's two largest lakes, the Aral Sea and Lake Balkhash, are drying up, their water resources depleted by decades of over-irrigation and pollution.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.