July started promisingly. In the first ten days of July, the flow of the Amu Darya above the water intake into the Karakum Canal was noticeably higher than normal. It was more than forecast at 483 million m3 and was the largest since 2019. In general, in the first ten days of July, the volume of Amu Darya flow amounted to 3189 million m3.
The supply to the reservoirs of the Tuyamuyunsky hydroelectric complex was also 108 million m3 more than normal, the volume of water was 4 km3, which is 111 million m3 more than the previous decade.
In the middle reaches of the Amu Darya there was no shortage, in the lower – there was a minimum, 6% of the limit on water intake.
In the second and third decades of July, the flow of the Amu Darya dropped noticeably. In the second ten days of July, the river flow turned out to be, on the contrary, less than the forecast by 311 million m3 and amounted to 2482 million m3.
Tuyamuyuna reservoirs accumulated 82 million m3, for a total volume of 4 km.
There was no deficit in the middle reaches; in the lower reaches of Turkmenistan it was 8%.
In the third ten days of July, the flow of the Amu Darya decreased to 2387 million m3, which is 494 million m3 less than the forecast.
Due to the decline in Amu Darya flow in the second and third decades of July, instead of accumulation, the Tuyamuyunsky hydroelectric complex began to activate water volumes. Over the course of a decade, 371 million m3 of water was activated, which is almost twice the accumulated volume over the previous two decades of July. The volume of water in reservoirs decreased to 3.7 km3.
The deficit in the middle reaches of the Amu Darya was 2%, in the lower reaches of Turkmenistan 9%, in Uzbekistan 29%.
In general, in July the flow of Amu Darya amounted to 8.058 cubic kilometers of water. For comparison:
— in 2019 – 10,839 km3
— in 2020 – 6.034 km3
— in 2021 – 7,652 km3
— in 2022 – 8,834 km3
— in 2023 – 9,877 km3
Thus, despite the high-water first ten days, in general, last month July was far from the most high-water even in comparison with the last few years.
The reduction in flow also affected the reservoirs of the Karakum Canal. Thus, over the month, the mirror of the Khauzkhan reservoir decreased by about 35% due to an increase in the production of water volumes, reports «MeteoJournal».
