Water access in Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan is not a simple infrastructure problem. It is a question of geography, climate, and the particular circumstances of the region’s most remote communities, where the distance from district centers, the absence of roads, and the depth of need make development especially challenging. Meeting these challenges requires joint effort and partners willing to work where the need is most acutely felt, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Uzbekistan.
During the visit to Karakalpakstan, Ms. Begum Yontar Avci, Senior Director for Sustainability, Eurasia and Middle East region at The Coca-Cola Company, traveled to the completed projects in Chimbay and Urgench to see, firsthand, what a decade of partnership has delivered.
In Kosterek community, Chimbay district, residents have been drinking clean, desalinated water for eight years. The reverse osmosis system installed under a 2022 UNDP–The Coca-Cola Foundation project replaced equipment that had deteriorated to a quarter of its intended output, producing water that exceeded acceptable salinity levels. Today, 1,269 people including 784 women turn on a tap and receive water that meets sanitary standards.
In Khilol community, Urgench district, four years ago only 1.3% of residents had access to clean drinking water, the lowest rate in all of Khorezm region. A 12-kilometer water supply network brought running water to all 3,011 residents, including 1,425 women, for the first time.
The visit marked the official launch of the next phase: “Enhancing Resilience of Remote Communities in Aral Sea Regions of Uzbekistan,” a new regional initiative funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation and implemented by UNDP, spanning both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in recognition that the water crisis of the Aral Sea region knows no borders. In Uzbekistan, the project will reach three of Karakalpakstan’s most remote communities — Kostruba, Karabayli, and Daukara.
In Kostruba, a new water station will be constructed above an artesian well drilled in the 1970s, providing 27 households with a daily capacity of 24,000 liters. In Karabayli, rehabilitation of existing infrastructure will serve 101 households and 719 people. In Daukara, rehabilitated systems will reach 597 households 3,263 people the largest single beneficiary group across all three sites.
“Access to clean water is the entry point for everything else we work toward in Karakalpakstan — health, education, economic opportunity, gender equality. When a community gets reliable water, it is not just a pipe that changes. It is the time women get back, the children who stay in school, the families who stop spending on preventable disease. This project, and this partnership, are how we deliver on that understanding where it matters most,” said Akiko Fujii, UNDP Resident Representative in Uzbekistan.
