PA works with ministries of water and natural resources in many countries to manage their watersheds, conserves fundamental resources and provide for the needs of people and ecosystems.
Watershed lands vary greatly in terms of water yield, natural habitat and the human activities they support from their headwaters to the ocean. Integrated management of water and related land resources can result in preservation of both natural watershed amenities and strong economies. Proper stewardship of these resources can result in less erosion, less destructive flooding, improved water quality and healthy habitat to support a diverse biota.
Track record
Water/energy Nexus, India
PA is helping India bridge the policy gap between the water and energy sectors so that problems involving the interaction of the two sectors can be addressed and reform efforts can move forward.
The Water Energy Nexus Activity (WENEXA) addresses the problems at the intersection of India's water and energy sectors. Below-cost electricity tariffs have led to the overuse of water for irrigation, which in turn has produced dramatic declines in groundwater levels. The mining of ancient aquifers from inexpensive deep wells has direct negative social impacts such as water tables falling below levels that can be hand-pumped and water that was once free being replaced by water that must be purchased from deep well owners.
Fostering water and energy co-operation, Aral Sea Basin
National leaders in Central Asia have begun to talk seriously about the need for increased intra-regional co-operation on water and energy issues. To help promote transboundary co-operation in the Aral Sea Basin, PA is assisting USAID/CAR staff in developing a strategy and specific tasks for an effective program of technical assistance to water and energy policymakers and implementing the activities recommended in the strategy.
This project will achieve increased co-operation among CAR water and energy policymakers on rational water and energy resource management in the Aral Sea Basin region, including the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers. International agreements or protocols are envisaged for transboundary water and energy co-operation by CAR leaders at the highest levels; and a more robust program of donor coordination, with other donor programs, especially those of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, becoming more effective as funds are leveraged.
Water management assistance program, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
In 2001 - 2002, the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan experienced severe drought. The Amu Darya River, a major water source, has less than 40 percent of its normal water, and literally dried up some 250 km short of its destination, the Aral Sea.
The drought caused a drastic drop in agricultural production, and more than half the population of Karakalpakstan lost access to acceptable quality drinking water. As a result, the incidence of waterborne diseases such as typhoid, hepatitis A and diarrhea has increased.
PA and Riverside Technology are assisting the government of Uzbekistan to implement a number of emergency and long-term measures for improving drinking water supply infrastructure. These include the drilling of new wells and boreholes, installing well pumps and water desalting plants and procuring vehicles for water carriers and tanks to deliver clean, potable water to remote populations.
