On the consumption of the waters of the Amu-daryo and Syr-daryo rivers and their tributaries by Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.

The total population of Turkmenistan is about 5 million.

The total population of Kyrgyzstan is about 6 million

Several million inhabitants of the south of Kazakhstan are also water users of these rivers.

The total population of Uzbekistan is about 32 million.

The population of Afghanistan has so far not consumed the Amu-daryo water because of the ongoing civil war there for almost 40 years. 

Thus, water users in Uzbekistan are entitled to more than 50% of all water in these  rivers.  

The water of the Amu-daryo has been consumed almost completely for decades, and therefore it does not reach the territory of the former Aral Sea, which is now 90% dried up.

The dried bottom has actually turned into easily saline sediments, which are mobile under the influence of winds. With strong winds, these sandy salt masses are transported by air hundreds of kilometers around, causing great harm to the health of the population and agriculture of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

For many years, with the financial support of the United Nations and other international organizations, work has been carried out to fix these sands with planting shrubs, but these works are carried out formally and fictitiously to develop the allocated funds and are limited to planting seedlings without their further care and watering. As a result, the million-dollar financial investments of international organizations turned out to be useless for the local population and only helped to increase the corruption of officials.

Water Syr-daryo reaches the territory of the former Aral Sea through the territory of Kazakhstan. But a part of the Syr-daryo water Kazakhstan dumps in the winter in the Kyzyl-kum desert, taking this water from the Aral Sea.

Therefore, it is more rational to transfer this part of the water to the Amu- Daryo and then use it for regular watering of the necessary salt-tolerant forest plantations on the dried-up bottom of the Aral Sea.

Ahtam Shaymardanov