![]() This approach encourages the participation of people from local communities in implementing water management solutions. The Smart Waters program promotes the principles of integrated water resources management, a holistic approach to water management, including considerations of environmental and economic impact. In December 2019, USAID, in partnership with Turkmen counterparts, invested in a dredger, a vessel equipped to remove silt and sediment from the riverbed, through USAID’s Smart Waters program. Consequently, there has been an increase in floods and agricultural losses. Additionally, the risk of flooding was exacerbated by changes in river flow due to climate change. Over the past three decades, the riverbed has risen by nearly three meters. The Murghab riverbed hasn’t been dredged in a long time. ![]() Without a dredging program in place, over time, the natural accumulation of silt causes riverbeds to become shallower, which in turn increases flooding in villages and settlements along the banks of the river and deteriorates the soil quality of agricultural lands adjacent to the river. Dredging removes the build-up of silt from the riverbed. Another approach to reduce potential flooding is dredging river beds using specialized equipment. “If my plot floods, my crops spoil, and I will be left without a livelihood for the year.”įlood barriers are a common local approach to protect land from flooding. Like many people in the area, Ataev says he has to build temporary barriers around his property to protect it from floods and prevent losses of essential crops. ![]() “Since we are so close to the river, we experience flooding every year,” says Ataev. He also raises livestock and tends to his household vegetable garden - all of which relies on the Murghab, a transboundary river that flows from Afghanistan to Turkmenistan. ![]() He is a third generation farmer, growing wheat and cotton on his ancestral land. “When there are floods, we have to build barriers to keep our land safe,” says Ataev Maksat, a 35-year old farmer from Saryyazy, a village in Mary, Turkmenistan. A Clean Riverbed is Changing the Lives of Turkmen Farmers ![]()
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