Publication Name

Environment and Security

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Ferghana

Osh

Khujand

attention to installing collector-drainage networks to cope

with the growing problems of rising groundwater levels,

waterlogging and secondary salinization. However, this

increased return drainage flows into rivers, substantially

worsening their quality” (Micklin, 2000: 34).

The widespread use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides

also contributed to pollution of water resources through

return flows from irrigated fields. Water salinization and

the associated deterioration in the quality of drinking water

affect Kanibadam in Tajikistan’s Sogd province – a town

on one of the main irrigation channels – and the Kairak-

kum reservoir.

Another related problem is pollution of drinkingwater resourc-

es by organic waste, a problem usually linked to the break-

down of local drinking water infrastructures, as in the case of

Osh city

and

towns in the Uzbek Ferghana

region. It may also

be due to a complete lack of infrastructure as with

Gantchi in

Sogd

, Tajikistan, where the water used by the downstream

Tajik settlement is polluted by waste from Kyrgyz communi-

ties upstream. Such cases of pollution are often a threat to