When more than 640,000 square metres of coastal lands along the Ural River are transformed into an industrial zone for extracting sand and gravel mixtures, legitimate questions arise about the condition and protection of one of Kazakhstan's main waterways. The editorial board of FBRK continues to analyse the responses from state bodies to inquiries about the river's condition.
In the first part of our article, we reported that the Zhayyk-Caspian Basin Inspectorate cited the limitations of its authority in its response, while the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation shifted the focus to cross-border cooperation with Russia, noting that 70% of the river's water originates on Russian territory.
Today, we examine the response from the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.
The Ministry provided detailed information on the water quality monitoring system for the Ural River. According to the agency, hydrochemical monitoring is carried out at 17 control points in the West Kazakhstan and Atyrau regions for 43 parameters, including water temperature, suspended solids content, transparency, and concentrations of heavy metals and pesticides.
In the Atyrau region, ecologists go beyond standard chemical analyses and study living organisms in the river — this is known as hydrobiological monitoring. Such observations are conducted at three key locations: near the village of Inder, downstream of the discharge point from the Atyrau city wastewater treatment plant, and near the village of Damba.
What do these studies show? Specialists examine periphyton — communities of microorganisms that live on stones, plants, and other surfaces in the water. Among these, diatoms predominate, which are sensitive to pollution. Based on the analysis of these organisms, the saprobic index is calculated — an indicator reflecting the degree of pollution with organic substances. For the Ural River, this index is 1.82, corresponding to the category ‘moderately polluted water’.
Ecologists also study zoobenthos — animals living on the riverbed. These are predominantly gastropod molluscs. Their diversity and abundance are used to calculate the biotic Woodiwiss index, which for the Ural River stands at 5 points. This corresponds to the third class of water quality — ‘moderately polluted’.
Additionally, biotesting is carried out — a direct check of the impact of river water on living organisms. In laboratory conditions, special test organisms (usually daphnia — microscopic crustaceans) are placed in water samples taken from the river. Studies conducted in early 2025 showed that 100% of the test organisms survived in all samples, indicating an absence of acute water toxicity.
In its response, the Ministry also described in detail the procedures for environmental impact assessment. In accordance with the provisions of the Environmental Code, any activity in water protection zones is subject to mandatory environmental impact assessment. Projects must undergo interdepartmental coordination to ensure maximum transparency in decision-making.
Alongside this, the agency provided information on the implementation of the Programme for Kazakh-Russian Cooperation on the Conservation and Restoration of the Ecosystem of the Basin of the Transboundary Ural River for 2021-2024. Under the programme, dozens of infrastructure projects have been completed or are in the implementation stage, including the reconstruction of canals and reservoirs, the construction of wastewater treatment plants, and bank reinforcement.
According to data from the State Enterprise ‘Kazhydromet’, over the programme's implementation period, the annual flow volume of the Ural River increased fivefold — from 3.82 cubic km in 2021 to 19.2 cubic km in 2024. The Ministry notes positive results in terms of restoring biodiversity, reducing water body pollution, and preventing soil erosion.
In three regions over 2021-2024, over 2,170 unauthorised landfills were eliminated, forest crops were planted on an area of 23,800 hectares, and 20.4 million juvenile sturgeon and carp fish were released into the Ural River. Additionally, six new monitoring stations for surface water quality were opened.
Despite the data presented by the Ministry, which demonstrates active work in monitoring and improving the ecosystem of the Ural River, serious questions remain that still require answers. How exactly are the large-scale extraction of sand and gravel and the ecosystem-based approach to protecting the water body reconciled? Who gives the green light to such projects in the water protection zone, and at what stage, and to what extent is genuine, rather than formal, inter-agency transparency ensured in these processes?
Recovery programmes and cooperation with Russia are an important step, especially given the transboundary nature of the river. However, positive statistics and increased flow do not negate systemic challenges: from unauthorised landfills to potential threats to biodiversity in areas of intensive economic activity.
Ultimately, the question Who will answer for the Ural? remains open — not only in a legal sense, but also in a moral one. Civil oversight, independent expert assessment, and sustained public attention to the river's fate must remain an integral part of any state strategy.