DUSHANBE, May 24 – Revealed problems connected to potentials threat that Sarez Lake could some day sweep down and put homes and people at risk over a massive area could be solved if the water level at the lake could be gradually lowered due generation of electricity.
This was remarked at the International Conference on Lake Sarez that Dushanbe hosted on May 22-23.
The main objective of the conference was to discuss results of recent scientific researches and long-term solutions to the threat.
According to Gulsara Pulatova, a senior adviser for the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) Central Asian office in Dushanbe, safety of future hydroelectric power stations (HPS) on the Panj River will directly depend on safety of the Usoy dam at Lake Sarez.
“Taking into account these problems, the conference participants have elaborated recommendations to the government of Tajikistan and donors,” Ms. Pulatova said, noting that one of the long-term options could be to gradually lower the water level at the lake through using its hydropower potentials.
Besides, the conference participants recommend examining safety of both man-made and natural dams in the country. The examination results could be used by the Tajik government and interested donors for implementing projects for installation of the monitoring and early warning systems, especially with regard to successful results of the Lake Sarez Risk Mitigation Project being implemented in Tajikistan under the aegis of the World Bank, Pulatova said.
We will recall that the project, which is a partnership between the Government and people of Tajikistan, the World Bank and the donor community represented by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, the Aga Khan Foundation, and the United States Agency for International Development, was launched in 2000. The project consists of four components: 1) design and installation of the monitoring and early warning systems; 2) social training and safety related supplies; 3) studies to assess alternative long-term solutions and 4) institutional strengthening.
Chairman of the International Expert Council, Tajik Academician Sobit Nematulloyev noted that Tajikistan has successfully implemented the first national project lowering the risk of inundation from the Lake Sarez in the Pamirs.
“The Sarez region now has a unique system of monitoring and early warning, as well as evacuation drills and centers with food reserves,” the academician said. In his opinion, the work should go on, and a long-term program of Lake Sarez safety should be implemented.
The conference was organized by the Tajik Committee for Emergency Situations and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in Central Asia.
The previous such gathering took place in 1997. Tajikistan and the international community have already provided more than $4 million in the past 10 years to closely monitor the dam, create an early-warning system, and implement other projects aimed at avoiding a major human catastrophe.
Lake Sarez was formed in 1911 after an enormous landslide caused by an earthquake in the Pamir Mountain range of Tajikistan blocked the Murgab river valley. The Lake Sarez, approximately 60 kilometers in length, contains close to 17 cubic kilometers of water. The natural dam, which retains the lake, named Usoy, is located at an altitude of 3200 meters. With a height of 567 meters from the lake bottom, it is the tallest dam, natural or man-made, in the world.
