Residents expressed their concern about the importance of the spring and suggested that authorities look for alternative ways to supply water. However, current efforts to restore the spring have not been successful.
“This spring is one of the two major ones in the Batken region. It provides 1 cubic meter of water during the warm season. Last year, the district water management transferred 14 kilometers of the canal for management.
The reasons for the spring drying up are related to natural phenomena, and it is difficult to pinpoint the exact cause. But this has not been observed before. The water level is decreasing. We have started restoration work, but it may be premature. It’s better to wait until April-May when there might be more water. We hope that the water will return as it used to,” explained Sultanbek Ermatov, head of the Batken district water management.
This spring previously supplied water to about 3,500 people in Kara-Bulak for drinking needs and irrigation. For the first time in history, there is no water in winter.
Nevertheless, local authorities point to a low probability of the water completely disappearing, as the level also decreased last winter. Water may appear, but in smaller volumes.
“Most likely, the water will not completely disappear. In recent years, the water level has decreased in winter, but this year it has completely disappeared. We hope for the return of water in April-May, but even if it appears, its volume will be small. There is another spring in the village — Kara-Suu. If we use it wisely for irrigation, it might be enough. However, this is insufficient for agriculture, so we are conducting awareness-raising work with people, urging them to use less water-intensive methods and implement drip irrigation. Water shortages are also observed in other regions.
Additionally, we are testing the method of creating artificial ice mountains for pastures. If this is successful, we plan to expand the project. Extracting groundwater is impossible, as it is located at a great depth. Local residents will not be able to extract water from a depth of 100 meters,” added Abdilakim Mansurov, head of the Suu-Bashy village council.
“Our local researcher Joro proposed increasing the water volume in the spring, but government agencies did not support him. However, local residents have tried to extract water in the Dönmön pasture for two consecutive years, but without success. If this does not work, we hope that specialists will be able to find a solution for extracting water from the ground in Kara if they can propose a project with technical solutions. This is necessary, as the water in the spring is insufficient for agriculture.
We also suspect that the pipe at the outlet of the spring is installed too low, which may hinder water collection, and vegetation and leaves block it. This may also impede the water flow,” noted Aslan Üsönov, a resident of Kara-Bulak.
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