1. 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

2. The Project: “National IWRM & WE Plan for Kazakhstan”
Time Frame:
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 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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:
: Schemes for comprehensive use & protection of Water Resources
: Fully adapting EU WFD
UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK
UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

9. (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 Water Code)
careful when replicating!
UNDP Regional Centre for Europe & CIS – Bratislava SK
UNDP Regional Centre - Bratislava / Slovak Republic

10. 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

11. 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

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