The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a non-profit, research-for-development organisation, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, that works with governments, civil society and the private sector to solve water problems in developing countries and scale up solutions. IWMI opened a subregional office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2001. It is the only international institute conducting water research in Central Asia. Together with the numerous partners and stakeholders from their broad network, IWMI tackles the key water management issues facing the region. IWMI identifies the best practices for improving irrigation performance, reversing land degradation, addressing interlinkages in the water-energy-food nexus, improving the efficiency of water and energy use, promoting the economic efficiency of water management, and enhancing transboundary water cooperation and governance in shared river basins. IWMI’s strategy is centered around three strategic programmes – Water, Food and Ecosystems; Water, Climate Change and Resilience; and Water, Growth and Inclusion – each supported by high-quality science and digital innovation.

In Hydro4U, IWMI is responsible to carry out the quantification of shared benefits and trade-off analyses from small-scale hydropower (SHP). The cross-sectoral nexus dimensions need to be fully understood, not only at regional level, but also in the specific local contexts where SHP solutions are planned. Therefore, a seminar was held on 9^th March 2022 in Fergana (Uzbekistan) to exchange views with the population and local authorities on the assessment of the nexus interdependence and cross-sectoral distribution of interests. The purpose of the consultation meeting was to discuss with local stakeholders from Ferghana district the importance of the nexus between Water-Energy-Food and Climate in the context of SHP installation in Shakhimardansay, one of the demonstration sites selected under Hydro4U.

Therefore, it is important to understand how SHP will influence other sectors in the region and how it will improve socio-economic conditions of the enclave Shahimaradansay. The aim was to bring together representatives of the water, energy, agricultural and environmental sectors as well as local authorities.

The water, energy and food sectors are so strongly interlinked that actions in one area commonly impact on one or both of the other sectors. Yet, all too often, these sectors operate in isolation, and seeking security in one sector may in fact compromise others or affect negatively the integrity of ecosystems.

In transboundary basins, obtaining harmonised data from all riparian countries and forming a holistic and shared picture of the situation and future scenarios is more complicated and requires specific approaches and policy dialogues. A joint assessment of intersectoral links, trade-offs and benefits serve the development of more coherent policies, reducing frictions between sectors and environmental impacts, as well as promoting the expansion of cross-border cooperation.

The nexus approaches help governments, investors and local communities think about where and how to maintain, restore and improve ecosystems and biodiversity, regenerate agriculture, and support sustainable irrigation, clean energy, and agro-processing needs. The nexus approach involves a broad range of actors (including women, youth and vulnerable groups) and stakeholders working together to connect systems in ways that seek equitable economic and social well-being.

IWMI will assess the cross-sectoral nexus at regional level and in the specific local contexts where SHP solutions are planned.  A situational analysis report and survey to document site-specific characteristics will be prepared. Geospatial analyses will be enriched by interviews with stakeholders in the catchment area to capture detailed socio-economic dimensions on the ground. An investigation will be undertaken to determine to what extent site-specific learnings are transferable to the Central Asian context, to interstate canals and transboundary river basins.

IWMI jointly with other Hydro4U partners will conduct a mapping of the main actors at selected demo and test sites, of their roles and responsibilities and investigate the formal and informal institutions that exist to foster water governance. The robustness of sharing agreements will be screened according to their “climate-readiness”, including from the perspective of the extent of non-cooperation in the respective contexts.

Author: Saida Usmonova, IWMI-Tashkent

Partner Description: IWMI
Website:  https://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/about/where-we-work/asia/iwmi-in-central-asia/
LinkedIn: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

The HyPeak research network is organising a webinar series around the topic of hydropeaking. The webinars will take place every second month to share relevant knowledge about hydropeaking issues and foster knowledge exchange and discussions. Attendance is free of charge.

Registration: Please register here at least one day before the webinar. (if you cannot register via the Google form, please send an email to hypeaknetwork@gmail.com)

The zoom-link to the webinar will be shared with you after your registration.

The 2nd webinar of this series will take place on 30 March 2022, 17:00 – 18:00 CEST.

The HyPeak network has been created to enrich international research initiatives and support hydropower planning and policy. In this webinar, discussions about emerging best management practise regarding hydropeaking mitigation in line with European policy guidelines are initiated.

Programme

Keynotes:

Dr. Lorenzo Gorla (BAFU/Switzerland): “Hydropeaking mitigation and
management in Switzerland”, (20 min)

Katarina Vartia (SWAM/SE, WG ECOSTAT), Jeanne Boughaba (DG ENV/EU
COM) & Jo H. Halleraker (NTNU/NO, CIS ATG HYMO): “Required mitigation
measures to address hydropeaking in line with EU guidelines”, (20 min)

Moderator: Professor Ramon J. Batalla (Universitat de Lleida/ES)

Relevant links:

• Status of hydropeaking management in Switzerland
  • Hydropeaking mitigation strategy in Switzerland (BAFU.ch)
  • Status of Swiss hydropeaking mitigation
• Relevant EU guidelines addressing hydropeaking mitigation:
  • EU CIS guideline no 36 – (WFD article 4.7) New modifications to the physical characteristics of surface water bodies or new sustainable human development activities
  • EU CIS guideline no 37 with European mitigation measures library
  • EUs taxonomy of sustainable finance – electricity from hydropower
  • JRC report EUR 28413.– Common understanding of mitigation measures for reaching GEP in HMWBs impacted by water storage

Further webinar dates

8^th June 2022, 17:00 – 18:00 (CEST) – “Effects of Hydropeaking on bio-physical Processes”

About HyPeak

The HyPeak research network was established in 2020 to encourage integrated interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary knowledge to address the complex challenges of hydropeaking in a changing world with an increasing flexible energy demand. Hydro4U partner BOKU is a member of this network.

HyPeak’s vision is to bring together a reference group of experts to support evidence-based legislation at different levels (from national to international) and to enhance the value of the interaction between hydropeaking research and policy.

You will find more information about the HyPeak network on the follwing webpages, where also the presentations from the webinars will be uploaded:

• HyPeak: Hydropeaking Research Network | Groups | LinkedIn
• HYPEAK: HYDROPEAKING RESEARCH NETWORK | Roser Casas-Mulet | 2 updates | Research Project (researchgate.net)
• HyPeakNetwork (@hy_peak) / Twitter

From a hydrological perspective, semi-arid Central Asia is a region of immense contrasts. On its south-eastern fringe are the large mountain ranges, including the Hindu Kush, the Pamir, the Gissar-Alay, and the Tien Shan. From there, the major rivers of the region emerge, including the Harirud and Murghab rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya as part of the Aral Sea basin, and finally, the Chu River and Talas River (Figure 1). These rivers are mostly snow melt-fed, with peak discharge occurring during the warm boreal summer months. During the irrigation season, much of the annually available water gets allocated for agricultural production in the downstream. This has allowed the region to prosper for millennia and led to the Aral Sea’s desiccation in the second half of the 20^th century after irrigation systems saw a significant expansion in the area.

hydrosolutions GmbH (HSOL) is the lead expert agency on hydrology and remote sensing in the EU Horizon 2020 Hydro4U project. The team has more than 15 years of experience in the region. Additionally, it draws on a significant pool of local experts to unravel the fascinatingly complex hydrology in Central Asia on the one hand and to study in detail climate impacts there, with a focus on implications for the development of sustainable small-scale hydropower solutions in the highlands there.

As a foundation for the estimation of the small-scale hydropower potential (< 10 MW) in Central Asia, HSOL has worked to retrieve from different archives the locations and streamflow characteristics of close to 300 operational and historic gauges in the river basins (see red dots in Figure 1). Geolocating these was a significant task that required the consultation of different complementary sources. A meticulous workflow was established for cross-validating the identified gauge locations. All this was necessary because no such database exists in the region due to the lack of the tradition to work with geospatial data.

For all gauges, the contributing catchment areas were mapped. Many topographic/land-cover and (bio-)climatological characteristics, as well as information on land ice, are extracted from the latest state-of-the-art data sets. Climate forcing from four CMIP6 models and four scenarios was bias-corrected and downscaled to study in detail the climate impacts in the region and the implications for small-scale hydropower in the mountainous zones. Detailed hydrological studies are carried out at several sites of interest to inform, among other things, the proper dimensioning of the planned hydropower infrastructure and ecological minimum flows (Figure 2).

Finally, HSOL is co-designing with local stakeholders and implementing a water planning and accounting tool for comprehensive quantitative studies of the water, energy and food nexus dimensions in catchments of interest. Once operational in local agencies, this tool has the potential to streamline existing planning and accounting workflows and make them less error-prone and time-consuming, which may also lead to an overall improvement of the allocation of scarce water resources (Figure 3).

This is just the beginning of an exciting journey to further unravel the hydrology of the Central Asian region and to gain a proper, solid understanding of how best to develop the local water resources in a sustainable and ecologically sensitive manner for the ultimate benefit of the local population. Stay tuned for more news on this channel. More information can also be found on the website of hydrosolutions GmbH.

Author: Tobias Siegfried, hydrosolutions GmbH

Partner Description: hydrosolutions GmbH
Website: www.hydrosolutions.ch
LinkedIn: hydrosolutions.ch
Facebook: @hydrosolutions.gmbh
Twitter: @H2O_SOL