Kazakhstan’s Aktobe shares its experience in ensuring the safety of hydraulic structures
Twenty water specialists from Central Asia visited Aktobe, Kazakhstan to participate in specialized training on innovative solutions in the construction of hydraulic structures. Representatives of the Executive Committee of the international Fund for Saving the Aral sea attended the event from Turkmenistan.
The study tour was organized by the Regional Environmental center of Central Asia under the joint EU/UNDP/UNECE project "Support to Kazakhstan for the transition to the green economy model".
During the interactive part of the training, participants have get acquainted with the results of technical re-equipment of Aktobe reservoir.
In the course of year and a half of modernization, 35-kilometer long Aktobe reservoir with a capacity of 245 million cubic meters of water, was equipped with up-to-date automated alert system on the flooding risks, an automatic system for monitoring the state of the dam and flood discharge, water level sensors, air temperature sensors, position gates sensors.
The mounted network of 38 wells, 48 hydrometers and 12 piezometers allows to control any changes in the groundwater level and to regulate the filtration flow.
Aktobe reservoir was built in 1988 for irrigation purposes. According to the project, it was designed for irrigation of over 4,700 hectares of land. However, in recent years, this figure has decreased by almost four times. Now, after re-equipment, automated monitoring of the uniform water supply will cover the irrigation area up to 6207 hectares.
The safety of hydraulic structures serves as a kind of preventive measure against man-made and natural disasters. The destruction of the dam can lead to serious human victims, economic loss and environmental damage. Every dollar invested in disaster risk reduction is paid back in four dollars in damage averted. According to expert estimates, the economic benefit from the re-equipment of the Aktobe reservoir exceeds US $ 2.4 million.
All participants of the study tour to Aktobe expressed their interest in replication of the acquired knowledge and experience in their countries.
