Linking IWRM & WSS UNDP’s Kazakhstan Experience Juerg Staudenmann Water Governance Advisor World Water Week EU Water Initiative – Special Session Stockholm, 24 August 2005 UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

The Project: “National IWRM & WE Plan for Kazakhstan” Time Frame: 2004-2007 Partners: Kazakh Committee for Water Resources (CWR) Government of Norway Global Water Partnership (GWP) Department for Int’l Development (DFID) Co-funding: Total USD 1.62 mil. Norway (cash) USD 1.085 mil. GWP (in-kind) USD 320,000 UNDP (cash) USD 100,000 DFID (cash) pounds 50,000 UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

Kazakhstan Context Water Use by sector: 71% Agriculture (85% of which irrigation) 24.4 % Industry / 0.6 % Fisheries 4 % Domestic Use 44% of water comes from neighboring countries (6 out of 8 river basins in KAZ are transboundary) WB Study in 66 local communities reported hard ship & conflicts over water, land & energy use in 50% UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

Why IWRM ? (Kazakhstan Context II) Water Resources Management in K. is: … Fragmented (Committee for Water Resources (CWR) in MoA, yet: monitoring  management; separate quality/quantity monitoring; surface  groundwater management; water services  sanitation providers) … Under-funded  MAIN REASON: WRM not seen as revenue earning area. … Poorly governed (new Water Code (2003): good potential for IWRM, but currently not used / enforced) At present, no organization has the responsibility to manage Kazakhstan’s water resources “Water scarcity” as a result of ineffective management (Johannesburg directive) … Fragmented (Committee for Water Resources (CWR) in MoA; monitoring  management; separate quality/quantity monitoring; surface  groundwater management; water services  sanitation providers) … Under-funded (deteriorating capacity of CWR (understaffing, education); deteriorating monitoring network; under-funded RBOs  decreasing management & responsibility; less research & training)  MAIN REASON: WRM not seen as revenue earning area. … Poorly governed (in addition to above: new Water Code (2003) not enforced; supply-oriented thinking / approach: emphasis on increasing supplies, rather than decreasing demands) UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

Kazakhstan context III: Main Barriers towards IWRM Poor public understanding & involvement, Poor governance, capacity (govt. investment; RBOs), transparency, … Water Info: Lacking, poorly accessible and/or managed Education Gap (water-related expertise / national capacity) Soviet Legacy: Vanish of central resource allocation & management New borders = new compartmentalization of watersheds “Low sympathy” for water pricing Water-Energy Nexus dominates dialogue Government: Administrative weaknesses & poor governance & Low willingness for govt. investments (see above) Limited understanding & support, and low Status of CWR Limited admin. & technical capacity of RBOs Low Transparency & Accountability UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

The Guiding Principles IWRM is about Governance! Integrating government policies through governmental, institutional & legislative reforms (e.g. agricultural with environment & water policies; Environment with municipal WSS policies; poverty reduction with water policies, etc.) IWRM is a Process! IWRM speaks to Efficiency – 2 Types: Technical E.: efficient use, minimizing waste ( demand management) example: decrease irrigation losses Allocative E.: economic efficiency, water to highest value user ( supply management), requires social responsibility; example: “release” water from agriculture for higher valued Drinking Water use ( lowering social/health costs, etc.) Agricultural with environmental & water management policies; Agricultural with intl. transboundary p.; Environment with industrial & municipal WSS policies (little economic sense to allow industrial sector to pollute water bodies); POVERTY REDUCTION with water policies! Kazakhstan: Water Code (‘03) with Environment Code (‘06)  supply management); assumes prior met sociological & environmental needs UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

UNDP’s Strategic Approach Basis: Johannesburg Directive; Build on Kazakhstan Water Code (2003); Assist Committee for Water Resources (CWR). Water Quality Management  Responsibility of River Basin Organisations (RBO) = Subsidiary Principle Adopt EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) approach EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) approach: WHY? WFD is the most comprehensive, most forward looking water or environmental legislation ever; Combines decade of thinking about best way to govern water and manage environment; Changes the way we think about managing rivers & the ecology of river basins. WHAT? achieving “good status”, definition & approach to achieve this is river-basin specific! River Basin Management Plans Protection of human uses of water (water can be efficiently and economically treated for human use) & Protection of the ecosystem structure and function  Both require protection of the watershed from pollution and/or inappropriate uses and stresses HOW? prioritize water quality – firm link between water management and ecology / environment shift from monitoring to managing Monitoring: shift from pollution / contamination to managing a healthy river environment Monitoring: shift from chemical towards ecological/biological indicators UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

Main objectives & Milestones National IWRM and W.E. Plan [End 2005], and IWRM Plans for all River basins [2007] Establish 8 River Basin Councils [2006] Preparation of a Strategy for Achievement of MDGs for WSS [End 2006] Improving cooperation and development of partnerships at regional and country levels Outlook: 2007-2010: Schemes for comprehensive use & protection of Water Resources 2010-2015: Fully adapting EU WFD UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

(Preliminary) Conclusions & Lessons Learned Before actually starting to draft the IWRM Plan, much more efforts than expected were required to actually prepare (all) partners for IWRM Approach promising: Bottom-up: build RBO & RBCs “Inside-out” (build capacity before attempting (transboundary) IWRM Decentralization: The right way to go Some risk that it leads towards ambiguity about responsibilities & ownership of rural WSS systems, hence to low willingness to invest. Kazakhstan Case: many country specific factors (e.g. 2003 Water Code) careful when replicating! UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

Why Linking WSS & IWRM in Kazakhstan ? Fulfillment of WSS MDGs will require more Water for People (as will economic growth) BUT: Kazakhstan’s absolute Water Resources unlikely to increase in future Increased demands can only be met by improving efficiency: DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT  Best done through IWRM Safe Drinking Water requires effective treatment This requires “reasonable” raw water (surface & ground) quality, ..is linked to (industrial & municipal) discharge policy ..requires also capacity (CWR, RBOs, Vodokanals, Health Ministry, etc.) for coordination Speaks to IWRM UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

WSS & IWRM Links IWRM is not only about Quantity  Quality Aspects: Quality-quantity trade-off: Even if chances are good to provide adequate water quantities, the poor quality still limits accessibility to safe drinking water WSS is causing and receiving side of pollution In summary: WSS reveals … … limited potentials for quantitative achievements per se, but … a significant potential in Water Res. Management trough qualitative improvements (cost effectiveness; economic efficiency)  Outlook: Large Social Survey on WSS underway (MDG Strategy) 7’500 Questionnaires+ 240 Semi-structured interviews & 16 Focus groups Focusing specifically on IWRM-WSS links  Report expected in 2-3 months… UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

For more Information: www.voda.kz www.undp.kz www.undp.sk Thank You! For more Information: www.voda.kz www.undp.kz www.undp.sk UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic