The Murghab River, a transboundary river that flows from Afghanistan to Turkmenistan, hasn’t been dredged in a long time.
According to the USAID Central Asia, over the past three decades, the riverbed has risen by nearly three meters.
Additionally, the risk of flooding increased with changes in river flow due to climate change. Consequently, there has been an increase in floods and agricultural losses.
In order to change this, USAID toghrther with Turkmen counterparts has invested in a dredger, a vessel equipped to remove silt and sediment from the riverbed, through USAID’s Smart Waters program.
The Smart Waters program promotes the principles of integrated water resources management.
This approach encourages the participation of people from local communities in implementing water management solutions. Through the program, local water users and stakeholders determined the need for a dredger to help manage the Murgab’s seasonal flooding.
The new dredger is now put to use by Mary province water management authorities to dredge the Murghab river.
In addition to preventing flooding, the dredger is reducing the amount of mud deposited from the river into the Sary-Yazy Reservoir.