Water is central to human development

Water has a central role to play in human development in Tajikistan. Increasing access to household water and improving water quality can bring important benefits to the country. Access to water is a fundamental right, the denial of which prevents individuals from satisfying basic human needs, and keeps people in a cycle of poverty where life revolves around survival instead of advancement. The intimate relationship between water, living standards and a broad range of social indicators including women’s empowerment, education and health makes improving water provision and quality a key element of the Millennium Development Goals. The broad, multidimensional significance of water makes this sector a high priority for national development strategies: no other sector affects so many people, so many aspects of every day life or so many areas of the economy.

Good water costs money

Despite the importance of the water sector, funding for upkeep and development of water-related infrastructure and institutions has been lacking. The levels of investment required for adequate rehabilitation and maintenance of household supply and irrigation networks are   large by comparison with available financial resources. Salaries in public ministries and other agencies also need to be raised and sector management strengthened. It is salutary to recall that at present drinking water is supplied to 1.1 million rural users on the basis of annual expenditures of TJS 750,000 - around $0.20 cents per person per year. High and sustained levels of funding will be required to develop the sector. Improved policy, planning and water sector management at the local and national level will ensure that investments have maximum impact. Since it is unlikely that Tajikistan will be able to finance the high capital costs on its own, renewed commitment from the international community for the long-term will be essential. Finally, international financial support must be administered prudently so as to avoid deepening economic dependency or aggravating Tajikistan’s already substantial international debt burden.

Institutional capacity must be strengthened

Institutional constraints remain a serious impediment to water systems reform in Tajikistan. In part, the problem is one of financial resources: departments do not have sufficient financial means to support basic operations such as monitoring activities in the field or maintaining statistical databases. Better collection and presentation of reliable and standardized information will greatly facilitate future efforts in the sector. Information regarding water financing is a particular concern: inter-agency cooperation will be frustrated as long as access to clear and transparent financial data is denied. A more complex problem concerns the skills and competencies of personnel. While sector-specific levels of expertise remain reasonably high, much of this expertise is now outdated, unsuitable to a system in transition to a market economy and out of touch with modern approaches to water management. Institutions need to take more account of human development indicators (as opposed to scientific or technical indicators) in preparing service plans. Authorities should invest in training and in Tajikistan’s water-related academic institutions to educate a new generation of policy-makers able to combine the high technical standards of the previous era with the more sustainable and user-oriented approaches of today. This will generate more holistic approaches to water policy, with sanitation measures accompanying future water supply interventions, and drainage playing a more integral role in irrigation rehabilitation. Overall institutional capacity building will be essential for the development of the water sector and guidance of related policy.

Water consumption patterns need changing

Improvements in funding and institutional capacity will only deliver meaningful change for human and economic development outcomes if inefficient consumption patterns can be changed. Water shortages result not only from weak service provision and infrastructural deficiencies but also from wasteful patterns of usage. An

Tapping the potential

Few poor countries are blessed with resources as rich as Tajikistan’s water. Its potential for radically improving living standards and raising incomes is enormous, and gives grounds for great optimism about Tajikistan’s future. This report has demonstrated the wide-ranging impacts of good water management on people’s lives, and revealed the main barriers currently obstructing progress. With a realistic appreciation of what can be achieved with the limited resources available, combined with high-level political commitment to targeting the poorest sections of society, water can be a powerful tool for development in Tajikistan.

Given the high infrastructure costs of extending electricity transmission lines to outlying regions, mini- and micro-hydro can present cost-effective solutions for remote populations.

Important means of changing consumption behavior is to increase public appreciation, awareness, and ownership of water as a shared national resource. There are two policy options for reigning in excessive water consumption. The first is to raise water tariffs as a means of strengthening incentives for responsible use. One objection to this approach is the difficulty many water users face in paying current and rising utility charges. Tajik authorities should improve their ability to measure and monitor water consumption as one means of improving low collection rates. Despite these drawbacks, charging more for water should help generate income for a cash-strapped sector and broaden the scope for badly needed re-investment. A second option for lowering consumption is to launch a public information campaign aimed at changing public attitudes and practices. Such a campaign might be conducted through schools, health clinics, local water user associations and the media. Radio has been effectively used in many countries to disseminate information on best practices, especially to rural areas where communities are more dispersed. Water’s key role in maintaining public health as well as in improving school enrolment and attendance levels makes schools and clinics ideal places for disseminating information about water and sanitation.

Priorities in the short term must be refocused

Tajikistan’s water resources give the nation a competitive advantage in two important commodities: cotton production and hydropower. Properly developed and regulated, these industries have real potential for improving the country’s economy and alleviating poverty. In cotton, more restructuring will be required to make the sector more competitive and to ensure a broader distribution of benefits. Recent presidential decrees promise constructive change and show that the government is moving in the right direction; but sustained commitment to further reforms and implementation will be required from authorities at all levels in order to realize maximum benefits from policy changes. Efforts to increase competition among ginneries at the district level must be made in order to reduce local administrations’ monopolistic hold on cotton processing. Continued restructuring and farm privatization are required to ensure that farmers have a freer choice in what to plant. Under present circumstances, agriculture and its key input - water – are underutilized as a tool of rural poverty alleviation. In hydropower there is a comparable need for policy prioritization. Demand for Tajik hydropower depends in large part on developments in other Central Asian and neighboring states, particularly regarding hydrocarbon policies. Given that foreign demand has not yet mobilized and that financing for large-scale hydro development will take time, restoring efficiency in existing generation capacity and exploring options for more small- and mini-hydropower projects will be critical in addressing domestic power needs in the medium term.