1 1) Introduction a) Objective of the presentation In the frame

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Presented by
Frank Riedmann, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe German Agro Action
Jelle Beekma, Team Leader Kunduz River Basin Programme
1) Introduction
a) Objective of the presentation
In the frame work of this conference the KRBP a integrated water management programme in
the Kunduz river funded by the European Union in cooperation with GAA (Deutsche Welt
Hunger Hilfe) gives a brief inside look into the specific conditions and the ongoing activities
within the Kunduz river basin. Lessons learned will be shared and discussed with the plenum.
The Kunduz river basin will be of specific interest for the participants of the conference due
to fact that it is the first afghan river basin where the new river basin concept agreed by the
Afghan government is brought into praxis.
b) Content of the presentation
The presentation will outline the physical conditions of the Kunduz river basin, the socio
economic situation and the water resources and water usage within the basin. Possible
conflicts about the scarce resource water will be discussed in an example.
Implementing the Kunduz River Basin Authority;
Presented by KRBP and DWHH/GAA at the Kabul Water Conference 02.08. – 03.08.2005
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The concept of the Kunduz river basin programme will be described and the experiences with
the implementation of the programme on the ground shared.
Lessons learned until now will highlight the need for capacity building.
2) Brief description of the Kunduz river basin
a) Overview of the physical, hydrological and geological conditions
The Kunduz river basin covers a total area of about 35.000 square km in North-eastern
Afghan provinces of Bamiyan, Baghlan, Kunduz and Takhar. The river system is formed by
two mayor rivers the Baghlan and the Takhar (often also referred to as Khanabad) River,
which merge about 10 km North of Kunduz city and discharge in to the Amu Darya 30 km
further, at the Afghan – Tadjik / Uzbek border.
Picture 1: Location of the Kunduz River Basin in Afghanistan
The Kunduz river basin covers the mountainous area of the Hindukush in the Southern parts
of the basin, hilly areas of Kunduz consisting of Palaeogene and Neogene sediments covered
by Loess deposits of 30 m to more than 100 metres thickness in the centre and along the rivers
several wide flood plains have been formed. The flood plains consist of highly fertile medium
grained soils with good agricultural land, which comprises the main economic centres of the
basin.
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The higher areas in the basin are partly used for rain fed agriculture but mostly consist of
deforested lands. Even though these areas have traditionally a low population density and a
limited carrying capacity an increasing number of people is forced into these inhospitable
areas due to population pressure.
Characteristic for the Kunduz river basin is constant run off of the rivers throughout the whole
year. The peak river run off occurs in summer due to the snow melting in May and June. The
rivers maintain a base flow in fall and winter. This river water allows an intensive irrigated
agriculture which is the main economic basis of the region.
Taloqan
Kunduz
Puli –I - Khumri
Picture 2: Satellite picture of the main Part of the Kunduz River Basin
b) Groundwater
Ground water can be found in the flood plains relatively near to surface in depths mostly
between 5 m and 20 m. Within the mountainous and hilly upper lands the access to ground
water is more difficult. The thick loess layers in the Kunduz and parts of the Takhar area are
characterized by the lack of any ground water. Ground water bearing layers in the mountain
areas are permeable layers of the base rock and faults within these rocks. Without having
detailed data it seems that there is a ground water base flow into the flood plain subsurface.
Nevertheless groundwater in the flood plain is significantly fed by infiltration of the rivers.
Usually water for domestic use is taken from the streams and canals or is extracted by shallow
or tube wells. Before the war many local water supply pipe schemes existed in the towns and
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cities of the basin area. Nowadays these pipe scheme systems are nearly all destroyed. Only
parts of Pul – I Khumri are supplied by smaller pipe schemes systems with drinking water.
Works on several pipe schemes for the drinking water supply of Cities and towns have been
started or at least the planning phase is ongoing. Projects are financed by USAID, Worldbank
and KfW.
c) Water usage / Water users
The population within the four provinces of the Kunduz river basin is estimated to be 2.8
Million individuals, of which around 2.5 Million individuals live within the Kunduz river
basin, most in the river plains.
The main usage of water is irrigation and a small proportion is used for domestic purposes.
Most of the concerns and disputes about water within the basin are about the distribution of
irrigation water. Logically the Kunduz river basin programme focuses basically on the
irrigation subject. Nevertheless we see also in the Kunduz river basin first signs that the
ground water resources for domestic and maybe in the future increased for industrial use will
be a subject in which a deeper look is needed.
3) Kunduz river basin programme
Integrated Water Management in the five river basins, has been chosen as the basis for the
new water resources policy and development in Afghanistan. The Kunduz River Basin
Programme pilots implementation of this river basin management approach. This approach
aims at combining integrated water management within the natural drainage area of a river
with improved institutional arrangements and good governance. The Kunduz river basin
programme is financed by European Commission (EC).
The programmes activities focus on five components:
1) Development of a river basin plan and establishment of a river basin authority and river
basin council;
In this process multi stakeholder groups, called sub basin and basin working group were
formed as precursor of a river basin authority and council. The sub basin working groups
develop proposals for water management in the sub basin and the river basin group
subsequently approves the proposals after adaptations, if and where necessary.
The groups prepare the river basin plan and agree on the institutional lay out. Presently the
groups collect data on all water uses and water resources in the river basin, match them to the
available resources and perform an institutional analysis. These data will be used for the
completion of a river basin profile, which, once approved by the group will form the basis for
a strategic plan. The process is in its initial stages, but has more and more stakeholder
ownership.
The institutional framework within which the river basin authority and councils will function
was approved on a multi stakeholder workshop/conference of two days. It consists of users
groups, represented in sub basin councils, which are subsequently represented in basin
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councils, questions if this representation should follow a stepwise election scheme or
federative election is part of the current formation process.
2) Upstream Catchment Protection and Forest Regeneration;
The combination of deforestation, overgrazing and seven years of drought have left the upper
reaches of the Kunduz River basin practically stripped of all vegetation while traditional water
saving techniques have become in disrepair. In this component, regeneration of forests,
improved rangeland management and rehabilitated and expended water management
techniques using new insights and applied technology will be piloted with the aim to replicate
successful systems. This component is highly participatory and will build on priorities as
identified in Natural resources management groups. These natural resources management
groups are also supposed to have a representation in the sub basin councils. Interaction
between upper catchment natural resources groups and related water users groups in the lower
areas, will also be stimulated, possibly compensation rules can be developed and agreed upon.
The first project, People for Environment, Environment for People (PEEP) run by a GAA led
consortium of GAA, Child Fund Afghanistan (CFA) and People In Need (PIN) has started
recently community selection and mobilisation.
3) Social Management of Water and representation of water users in decision making bodies;
The management of the small and medium irrigation schemes in the Kunduz River Basin
continued as good as possible during the years of war and turmoil. As a result the
communities still have a well-developed auto organization and are quickly mobilised for
necessary maintenance and repair jobs. The organisation of the repairs and maintenance
works, as well as the distribution of water is done by a Mirab and his Bashi mirabs. These
mirabs are generally chosen from the tail end of schemes and have considerable empirical
knowledge of the water distribution and required works.
However these mirabs have not been able to continue the management in all irrigation
schemes, intensive migration has disturbed patterns while power relations were strongly
affected by the war and local commanders and factions. Other shortcomings that have been
mentioned relate to the fair distribution of water, decision-making power and responsibilities.
As a last point the management systems as well as the technical status of the irrigation
schemes, allow for subsistence and limited commercial farming only, they do not allow for
competition in the international markets, which is a requirement of the new Afghanistan.
In the KRBP research/action project(s) will be carried out by NGOs on social water
management; the functioning and the historical background of the traditional water
management systems in the irrigation schemes will be investigated to form a strong basis for
development of viable water users organisations. The research is also expected to contribute
to a better knowledge of the water distribution rules and mechanisms and the grounds for
improvement. The social management of water will furthermore introduce elements of
participatory technology development including the involvement in design and supervision of
construction. The research/action will happen in the schemes where KRBP will carry out
rehabilitation.
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4) Rehabilitation of irrigation schemes (middle sized, larger than 1000 Ha), specifically
focusing on water control;
Twelve major irrigation schemes have been selected in close cooperation with the irrigation
departments of three of the four provinces constituting the river basin. The fourth province,
Bamyan does not have any major irrigation schemes with an area exceeding 1000Ha. The
main principle of the works carried out under KRBP is to improve control of water flow into
the canal, thereby giving a better control over water distribution on basin scale and protecting
the canal against breaches during the high flow season while maintaining a minimum flow
during the dry season.
The selection of the 12 major schemes is tentative as the initiation of works depends on a
social screening
5) Capacity building and training of staff likely which will have a prominent role in water
management and the river basin authority.
Staff of ministry departments, especially irrigation and water resources and agriculture animal
husbandry and food, is given capacity to carry out the tasks entrusted to the river basin
authority, specifically the M&E, regulation and facilitation of the water allocation and
management. This is mainly done through equipping with modern technology, training in
modern techniques and principles and specifically management and governance training.
4) Critical issues in ground water resources / water supply
In the upper rain fed areas the access of clean drinking water is already since long times a
mayor problem, due to the fact that in wide areas the ground water level is so deep that it
simply can’t be reached by traditional wells there are few natural sources or streams. The only
water sources are flash floods in washes during the rainfalls and the transportation of water by
donkeys into the area. The inhabitants of these areas were quite inventive coping with the
absence of water. One example for this is the collection of ice and snow in winter in specific
ice stores (Yachdans), which can be used until early summer.
In the flood plain of the rivers there is, as described before, mostly ground water available, but
as the following examples might show the protection of this resource might have to be
considered in the future.
One example of ground water problematic similar to the situation in Kabul basin in a much
smaller scale is the city of Pul –I Khumri.
Pul-i –Khumri, the biggest city within the Kunduz river basin project, is located in the
northern part of the basin along the Baghlan River. Pul – I - Khumri as the first bigger town
north of the Salang is a mayor traffic junction, where all the traffic from Kabul to whole
North Afghanistan passes through. Therefore it is a mayor trade centre. Besides this Pul – iKhumri owns the only industrial plants worth mentioning within the Kunduz river basin.
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Picture 3: Waste deposits next to a public well in the centre of Pul – I - Khumri
Pul –I –Khumri is situated in a narrow valley of the Baghlan River. The ground water is with
5 m to 15 m below surface level relatively high. The Aquifer is formed by coarse river
sediments and is limited at the base by siltstones and weathered crystalline rocks. Ground
water testing has revealed that the ground water in Pul –I- Khumri is partly polluted by faecal
bacteria evidenced by high contents of coliforme bacteria. Pul – i- Khumri is a growing city
and the ground water extraction is increasing while the development of a functioning sewage
system is still a long way off. The covering loam sediments form no sufficient barrier for
seeping sewage, especially there, where shallow wells are located next to sewage pits.
Concrete plans for the extension of pipe scheme systems exist.
Besides the pollution of the ground water by faecal bacteria first evidences had been found
that herbicides and pesticides used in agriculture has percolated in to the ground water.
Ground water tests south of Kunduz city has discovered in the upper layer traces of herbicides
and pesticides in the ground water. It can be expected that considering an increased usage of
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these chemicals in the future will have a mayor impact on the ground water quality in the rural
areas.
In addition to that ground water in the Kunduz and Takhar province shows in some areas a
high salinity caused by the wash out of salty deposits in the base rocks. These salt deposits of
lower cretaceous age are connected to range of cretaceous lime stones. An impressive
example therefore is the wash out of a salt deposit by the Namak Ab river in the Takhar
province.
Picture 4: Namak Ab River, Takhar Province, The river valley passes a huge salt deposit. The main stream has
washed out the salt deposit and built a tunnel through the salt. The right picture shows the outlet of this tunnel
back to the main river valley. By flowing through the salt deposits the river dissolves salt causing high salinity of
the river water.
5) Kunduz river basin programme / lessons learned – out look
1) Lessons learned:
a) River Basin Planning
i) The process will be lengthy due to the limited capacity at basin level and
limited commitment of the government to invest in capacity outside the
center;
ii) People are generally interested in a more integrated and participatory
approach and River Basin Working Groups have been started
enthusiastically;
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iii) Nevertheless, there is strong competition on the perceived mandates of the
line ministries, particularly groundwater is claimed to be the mandate of at
least 4 ministries;
iv) User participation is generally accepted and considered necessary, however
there are no transparent mechanisms to select/elect users;
b) Upper Catchment Protection and Forest Regeneration:
i) The number of upper catchments in need of water conservation and
reforestation is very high;
ii) Focus should be on replicable action, not on large investment impossible to
replicate by communities;
c) Social Management of Water:
i) Knowledge of traditional ways of water management is limited and needs
to be documented well to form a basis for organisation forming;
ii) Due to limitations of the legal framework for water users at present, and
the absence of experience with maintenance of large control structure,
research/action should contribute from the very beginning to establishing
acceptable mechanisms for user representation and O&M.
d) Rehabilitation of irrigation assets:
i) Due to the emergency works that have characterised the rehabilitation to
date, it is extremely difficult to motivate the stakeholders for well planned
larger works;
ii) Due to limited local capacity in the provinces and in the ministry, and the
large amount of project, survey and design internally in the departments is
a major factor for delay;
iii) The proper design of new structures will be hampered by the absence of
river level data, given the extensive damage done during the 2005 high
water, it seems recommendable to follow a conservative design.
b) Need for capacity building / activities for capacity building
The government of Afghanistan has a modern governance policy based on best practice in
governance and development. River Basin Management is one of the strategies belonging to
this policy. However, in order to be able to carry out the relatively new concepts complete
with implementation of a proper institutional framework and decision making mechanisms, a
profound understanding of the processes at various levels of the government is required. At
this moment this is only partially the case and a major effort on capacity building and training
in the filed of water management is needed. This would require considerable amounts of
money to be invested as well as a broad curriculum including ample management training for
the higher positions.
This major investment in capacity building and training should be accompanied by strong
choices of the government to develop towards a “lean and mean” organisation being able to
efficiently facilitate the development process of Afghanistan. This would require well paid
positions for highly qualified people not only at central level, but also at basin and sub basin
level.
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1 1) Introduction a) Objective of the presentation In the frame

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