Over the next five years, Kazakhstan will require around 2,000 specialists in the water management sector. This forecast was announced by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.
According to 24.kz, to address the issue, more than a thousand educational grants were allocated for the new academic year, and from July, salaries were increased for employees of Kazvodkhoz — their income is now comparable to the pay of specialists in the heat and power sectors.
As stated by the Director of the Department of Science and Innovation at the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Lyazzat Dzhusipova, the ministry is also focusing on improving the qualifications of current workers. Last year, more than 500 Kazvodkhoz employees completed courses, including as part of collaboration with the Chinese company Power China.
"An important step in this direction is international cooperation. According to agreements between the ministry and the Chinese company Power China, 60 of our specialists completed courses in China. Currently, 31 specialists are undergoing training, and another 30 people will be sent before the end of the year. It should be noted that all expenses were covered by the Chinese side," said Dzhusipova.
However, the shortage of personnel is only part of the problem. Even with growing attention to the sector, cases of illegal water use continue to be uncovered in the country.
Thus, according to Polisia.kz, in the Turkestan region, during joint raids by the police and the Water Resources Protection Inspectorate, more than 20 violators were identified.
In the Maktaaral, Zhetysai, Keles and Shardara districts, as well as on the territory of the Shardara Reservoir, cases of unauthorised water abstraction were recorded.
On the southern side of the reservoir, police discovered a channel 3.7 km long and up to 1.4 m deep, dug without permission to irrigate over 140 hectares.
"The violators used Altai and MTZ tractors, as well as KamAZ and Mercedes trucks, as water intake equipment. The average water flow rate reached 480 cubic metres per hour, and the total volume of illegally abstracted water amounted to 414 million cubic metres," the report states.
Materials regarding the violations have been forwarded to the Aral-Syr Darya Basin Inspectorate, and the violators have been held accountable.
Earlier, it was reported that the heads of the Shardara and Maktaaral production sections of the local Kazvodkhoz branch in the Turkestan region were temporarily suspended from work. Shortly before that, they had received severe reprimands.