The Northern Aral Sea has been replenished with billions of cubic meters of water.

The Northern Aral Sea has received billions of cubic meters of water.

The Kazakh section of the Aral Sea continues to gradually fill. The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Kazakhstan reported a significant increase in the total water volume in the Northern Aral Sea, which has received large inflows along the Syr Darya River over the past ten months.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Kazakhstan, approximately 1.2 billion cubic meters of water have been released into the sea since October of last year, bringing the total volume in the area to 23.4 billion cubic meters. At the height of the irrigation season, the inflow is currently 14 cubic meters per second, but by the end of the season, specialists plan to gradually increase this figure to 100-150 cubic meters per second.

To retain water and gradually restore the local ecosystem, Astana is actively automating water resource metering in the Syr Darya basin and reconstructing key hydroelectric facilities.

Coordination with neighboring states remains a key factor in saving the reservoir. Last year, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the joint management and rational use of shared rivers, and the positive results of this work to restore the Northern Aral Sea were previously noted by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Uzbekistan intends to transform the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) into a key driver of regional integration. Among the country's priorities during its chairmanship next year are the development and modernization of the Fund's activities, aligning its agenda with the decisions of the Consultative Meetings of the Heads of State of Central Asia, and improving the effectiveness of its programs and projects.