At a meeting in Ashgabat in mid-November, the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan approved water distribution quotas for the 2025-2026 non-growing season (from October 1, 2025 to April 1, 2026) for the Syr Darya and Amu Darya river basins.
The Amu Darya and Syr Darya are the two main rivers of Central Asia, both flowing into the Aral Sea. Both rivers play a key role in the irrigation of agricultural lands.
During the non-growing season between the previous and upcoming vegetation seasons, the countries of the region accumulate water in reservoirs for future irrigation needs.
For the Amu Darya River, for the period between October 1, 2025 and October 1, 2026, the total water withdrawal quota is 55.391 billion cubic meters, including 15.865 billion for the October 2025-April 2026 non-growing season. For 12 months, the water intake limit for Tajikistan is 9.8 billion cubic meters, for Turkmenistan — 22 billion cubic meters, and for Uzbekistan — 22 billion cubic meters.
The Amu Darya delta and the Aral Sea are expected to receive 4.2 billion cubic meters of water, half of which during the non-growing season.
For the Syr Darya River, there are no figures for the period between October 1, 2025 and October 1, 2026, but the total water withdrawal quota for the October 2025-April 2026 non-growing season has been set at 4.219 billion cubic meters, including:
Kazakhstan — 460 million cubic meters via the Dustlik Canal
Kyrgyzstan — 47 million cubic meters
Tajikistan — 365 million cubic meters
Uzbekistan — 3.347 billion cubic meters.
The Interstate Commission also reported on the use of irrigation water from both rivers during the 2025 growing season.
In 2025, the actual water availability in the Amu Darya River was 93.4% of the norm. The five countries of the region utilized 34.2 billion m³ (86.1%) of their total water withdrawal quota of 39.7 billion m³. Tajikistan utilized 5.8 billion m³ or 83.4% of its quota; Turkmenistan utilized 14.2 billion m³ or 91.6%; and Uzbekistan utilized 14.167 billion m³ or 82.3% of its quota.
During the 2025 growing season, the Aral Sea was expected to receive 2.1 billion m³ of water from the Amu Darya, but in fact received only 993 million m³ or 47.3% of the planned amount.
From the Syr Darya, during the 2025 growing season, Kazakhstan utilized 644 million m3 of its quota of 909 million m3, Kyrgyzstan — 191 million m3 of its 270 million m3 quota, Tajikistan — 1.454 billion m3 of the 1.9 billion m3 quota, and Uzbekistan — 7.012 billion m3 of the 8.8 billion m3 quota.
