Kalmak-Kuduk

Kalmak-Kuduk ("Kalmyk well") is a borehole and watering point on the southern Betpak-Dala, in the Northern Steppe planning zone of the Autonomous Tribal Regions. It was drilled in 1967 to a depth of about 180 meters for a Soviet sheep farm, beside an older hand-dug well that tradition attributes to the Dzungars (Kalmak) of the 18th century.^[1] Its pump failed in 1993, and the surrounding winter pastures were little used until 2011, when an aid-funded solar pump restored the supply. It now waters about 4,000 sheep each winter.^[2]

References

1. ^ Talas State University Press (2014). Wells and Winter Pastures of the Moiynkum and the Southern Betpak-Dala. Talas.
2. ^ United Nations Mission in Irad (2021). Settlements and Services in the Northern Steppe Zone. Kara-Oi.