Abstract
Water is an essential element for life, and development would not be possible without its availability. This study identified the main water consumers and their likely impact on water lake level for the case of Issyk-Kul Lake Basin, Kyrgyzstan. Data on precipitation, lake level, irrigation, household and industrial water consumption from 1980 to 2014 were provided by the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation, Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of the Kyrgyz Republic. The input data was analyzed with OriginPro 8.5 for Statistical Analysis. The results indicated a decreasing irrigation water consumption from 2029.42 to 461.76 million·m3 in 1980 and 2014, respectively. Likewise, households consumed 27.02 million·m3 in 1980 falling to 16.55 million·m3 in 2014, similar to the manufacture’s water consumption. However, it was noted that agriculture is a high water consumer, whose water demand for irrigation rises from April to August, the period during which the precipitation also increases. Nevertheless, manufactures and household water consumption do not have timed limits of use like in agriculture, which in turn affects the lake water level. Therefore, as the rainfall increases by April to August, we suggest to harvest and only use the rainfall water during its abundance period. This would help in restoring the lake’s water level during the time of rainwater uses, and leads to water consumption balance, flood management and lake biodiversity conservation as well.
Highlights
Agricultural irrigation practices, rapid urbanization and climate change increase pressure on water resources
These water uses led to variation in the lake’s water level construction, irrigation and recreation. These water uses led to variation in the lake’s water level being being headed by agricultural water which demand, oftributaries the total lake headed by agricultural irrigationirrigation water demand, was which
Issyk-Kul has been subject to changes in its water level, increasing sediments and other anthropogenic activities such as expansion of agricultural irrigated lands and rise of recreational, household and industrial water demand [18,20,21]
Summary
Agricultural irrigation practices, rapid urbanization and climate change increase pressure on water resources. Worldwide water utilities experience seasonal fluctuations in their aggregate consumption levels and these variations generally cause specialized maintenance and administrative schedules to develop individual utilities as a mean of optimizing the natural resources [3]. Water from rivers, lakes and aquifers is mostly used for irrigation, bathing, washing and other human needs. Increasing exploitation of natural resources, inappropriate land-use practices, and uncoordinated sectoral policies and development activities in lake basins impair various. Water 2016, 8, 298 important functions of water. Appropriate approaches for water management are urgently needed [4,5,6]
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