Water Unites

Water management in Central Asia –
the legacies of the past
The five former Soviet states of the Aral Sea Basin, thus excluding Afghanistan, share a
common history under Russian and Soviet rule with tremendous effects on water usage
and water management. This common past will be described in this chapter.
Historical patterns of water usage and water management
Central Asia has a long history of irrigation agriculture. Over the course of the centuries,
complex and sophisticated systems of water management evolved in order to compensate
for low rainfall. The prosperity of the Arab period in the 7th century came in part from
the construction of extensive irrigation systems in the sedentary areas. There, control over
where water went was centralized, while its end use was the responsibility of local officials.
The Khan acted as a kind of trustee of water in the name of Allah. Farmers paid taxes for
water usage and were obligated to participate in necessary maintenance work. So-called
mirabi-water masters-were responsible for secondary canals and aryk aksakaly (literally:
canal elders) for small canals. The highest position was the mirab bashi, who was part of
the government and responsible for water allocation. The mirab was elected and received a
payment in kind from the users depending on how satisfied they were with his work. These
were very prestigious positions. Besides the mirab, another informal water governance
institution was the hashar or ashar, a system of collective voluntary work by community
members. It was part of a broad system of reciprocities at the village and neighbourhood
level. Hashar was used for construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of small-scale
canals.
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Water—a gift of God, an economic good or a human right?
Water is a natural resource-like wood, coal, oil or gold. However, water is different from other
natural resources. It is not only used for numerous economic and technical purposes, but has
cultural, social and symbolic dimensions. We could survive without coal or wood or oil, but
water is a basis for life. This is why in many religions, water has a special meaning and is often
at the beginning of creation accounts.
Especially in those religions that emerged in water-scarce areas like Judaism, Christianity
and Islam, water has a special significance. Stories in the Old Testament reflect the water
scarcity experienced by the people of the Middle East and show respect for the life-giving as
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