By Katie Arnold
KOK TAL, Kyrgyzstan, Nov 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In the Kyrgyz village of Kok Tal, it is the jarring sound of Bahadyr Mamatgapirov’s mobile phone that breaks the serenity of dawn.
“Get here soon if you need water for your farm,” he abruptly tells one caller. Within moments it rings again. “Wake up and come take care of your water,” he insists.
A small group of men emerge from the village, a cloud of dust pursuing their weary footsteps.
Mamatgapirov opens a metal sluice gate, releasing a stream of water down a series of irrigation canals. The men then use a pile of tattered sand bags to force the flow towards their fields.
He will repeat this process at regular intervals throughout the day, directing irrigation water to different fields at the behest of their owners. But as the day grows old, the farmers’ phone calls become more aggressive.
As the village’s nominated murab, or water man, Mamatgapirov must ensure that all 200 of Kok Tal’s farmers receive their fair share of water. But there is rarely enough for everyone.
“The problem is Uzbekistan” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Our water flows through Uzbekistan and they do not give us enough.”
Kok Tal’s water begins its journey at the Papan reservoir in Kyrgyzstan – 120 miles away from the village. It flows along a series of cracked and crooked canals – built during the Soviet era – until it is diverted, using hand-operated gates, to the various farms that line its route.
The canal network stretches across the Fergana Valley – a twisted knot of contested borders and enclaves that is acrimoniously shared between Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Almost a quarter of Central Asia’s population lives in the valley, attracted by its high agricultural productivity in a region otherwise dominated by dry or mountainous terrain.
But not everyone’s land in the Fergana Valley is fertile. Overuse of water in upstream communities often leaves those downstream parched.
