The Uzbek authorities are again announcing ambitious plans to expand the country’s hydropower potential. According to the official press service of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, by the end of 2025 new hydroelectric power stations with a total capacity of 162 MW will be built in the republic. Projects planned to be implemented in the Tashkent, Namangan, Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions should provide additional generation of 648 million kWh of electricity, which is supplied as a significant step towards energy independence and the development of a «green» economy.
However, it is worth recalling that hydropower carries significant and often irreversible environmental risks. The construction of dams is fundamentally changing river ecosystems, turning dynamic waterways into a chain of artificial reservoirs. This leads to disruption of the natural migratory routes of fish, changes in the temperature and chemical regime of the water, and retention of silt and sediment, which are vital for the fertility of floodplain lands downstream.
The greatest concern among experts and environmental activists is the complete lack of comprehensive and independent environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for announced projects in the public space. EIA – is a key tool for calculating and minimizing potential damage to nature in advance, as well as assessing social consequences, such as possible flooding of territories and relocation of people. Without an open discussion of the results of such research, society is deprived of the opportunity to understand what the real price of new megawatts will be. It is unknown which rivers will be blocked, which unique natural landscapes may be at risk and how construction will affect the water balance in the region, which already suffers from a shortage of water resources. The decision to build a hydroelectric power station without broad public and expert discussion looks like a bet on short-term economic benefits at the expense of long-term environmental stability.
Alexander Eskendirov (Rivers.Help!)
