Orto-Sai Reservoir
The Orto-Sai Reservoir is a reservoir on the upper Chu River in Kyrgyzstan, upstream of the Boom Gorge. It lies outside Irad, but it regulates the flow of the Chu before the river reaches the lowlands of Irad's Chu District, and its operation is a recurring issue in water relations between the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ) and its neighbors.[1]
The reservoir was built in the late 1950s, when the area was part of the Kirghiz SSR, and holds about 470 million cubic meters. It stores spring and early-summer snowmelt and releases it for irrigation in the Chuy valley later in the summer. Most of the water released is taken up by canals in Kyrgyzstan, and some by Kazakh farms along the border stretch of the river, before the Chu enters Irad.[1]
For the lower Chu, the reservoir's release schedule determines how much water reaches the Chu Irrigation Canal System in July and August. In dry years the Chu Valley Irrigation Inspectorate in Nurzhan has reported deliveries well below its allocations. Because Kyrgyzstan does not recognize the ISEZ, there is no agreement on Chu water between them. The inspectorate exchanges data with Kyrgyz and Kazakh water agencies through technical channels, and the ISEZ has raised the issue in talks on electricity from the Toktogul Hydroelectric Complex.[2] (See Chu River Basin.)
References
- ^ Chu Valley Irrigation Inspectorate (2023). Annual Report on Water Allocation, 2022. Nurzhan.
- ^ Eurasian Political Quarterly (2021). 'Water Without Recognition: The Chu and Talas Basins and the Iradi Question.' Vol. 28, Iss. 1, pp. 33–58.