Desalination in Karakalpakstan

The Republic of Karakalpakstan, situated in the north-western part of Uzbekistan includes the Amu Darya River delta total area covers 165,600 square kilometres (37 % of Uzbekistan). The climate is typically continental, with very hot summers and cold winters without snow. The area is experiencing severe environmental problems as a result of the shrinking of the Aral Sea.



Photo: Muynak Rayon (desalinator in background)

There are several reservoirs in the Amu Darya basin, the largest of which is the Tuya Muyun with a storage capacity of 7,800 MCM, consisting of four separate reservoirs.

One reservoir of this system the Kaparas is used to provide drinking water for Karakalpakstan.

In Karakalpakstan there are three main water supply organisations.

o Tuya Muyun - Regional organisation for water transportation mains.
o Agrovodokanal, - Water Company for the rural area.
o Vodokanal - Regional water company.

The drinking water supply in a number of rural areas however comes from groundwater which is too saline.

For rural communities the following water supply schemes are being used:

o Supply from local fresh groundwater sources
o Connection to the group system of Tuya Muyun-Nukus trunk mains
o Truck water supply (supply of water in water trailers)
o Desalination of ground water, which is rather brackish

Current Status of Desalination:

From 1987 some 200 desalination stations were constructed in Karakalpakstan. However only  63 were  operational by 2010. They are run by the Agrovodokanal. These stations are known as EKOS plants and were assembled and built by the "Tambovmash" factory from Tambov in Russia.

Feed water is usually obtained from deep wells, ranging between 400 and 600 meters deep. The distribution system is only for public tapping points. These desalination plants use the electro dialysis process. They are very basic and robust installations and have proved very suitable for the local circumstances where ongoing maintenance is an issue.

Vodokanal also has two sites where it applies desalination using reverse osmosis. There is one plant in Takhtakupir of 2400m3/day, and there are five small plants in Muynak of 15m3/day each.

Environmental Impact. Brine that derives from the many ED desalination plants is discharged to general collectors. Brine disposal is not generally neutralised, however this is considered not to be an environmental threat since the quantities of desalinated water are so small and very local. Moreover, there are no chemicals used in the treatment process, so the composition of the water does not really change.


Photo: Salt covers much of the land in the northern districts of Karakalpakstan

Source of Photos: http://www.tripmondo.com/uzbekistan/karakalpakstan

Stamp to commemorate the 170th Anniversary of the birth of the Karakalpak National Poet Berdakh

Designer: S. Sharipov

Paper: coated

Printing process: offset

Perforation: comb 13 3/4 : 14

Size: 26 x 37 mm

Sheet composition: 50 (10 x 5) stamps

Printing run: 35.000
Michel catalogue number: 174
15.00 (S). red-brown and light-blue.

Berdakh's monument, Nukus

In 1997, in connection with the 170th anniversary of the birth of the great Karakalpak poet-thinker Berdakh, the Karakalpak State University decided to construct a museum. Completed in 1998 the museum is a three-storey building with one large and six smaller domes. The designer was Orynbay Toreniyazov, a famous architect of the republic and the winner of the State Award of Berdakh.

Berdakh is considered the first historian of Karakalpak people. His book "Shezhire" is a genealogy of  not only the Karakalpak people, but comprises data on the Turkic people as a whole. In "Shezhire" he describes the 300 most important characters in Karakalpak history. He was also famous for his poetry devoted to national heroes including the great poems "Amangeldi" and "Ernazar biy". Besides poetry, Berdakh also wrote some well loved "Bakhsy" folk music which that was famous not only among Karakalpaks but their neighbours as well the Khoresmian Uzbeks and Turkmens.

The museum has expositions depicting history, ethnography and culture of Karakalpak people. The organisation of the museum is into thematic halls of archaeology, ethnography, art and history. In addition it has materials about clerical educational institutes of the past and the present - madrasahs and maktabs, the first Soviet educational institutes and about the history of formation of higher and secondary education institutions in Karakalpakistan.  It also contains a collection of old manuscripts in the Arabian, the Persian and the Turkic languages.

Berdakh, pseudonym of Berdimurat (son of Kargabai) (1827–1900) was born in a remote village near modern-day Muynak. His father was a poor fisherman and his mother, who gave him the nickname Berdakh, died when he was 10 years old. His father also died while Berdakh was still a child leaving him an orphan. Berdakh studied in a local maktab and at the same time earned a living from sheaparding fellow villagers' cattle.

His brother assisted him to enrol in Karakum madrasah, a Muslim religious school, but in time Berdakh dropped out to study folk poetry and narrative classical masterpieces under a  tutor, Kunkhoja, (1799–1880) who was famous for his folk poetry. Ajinyaz, (1824–1878) another famous poet of that time, also played a significant role in Berdakh's life. For much of his life Berdakh also earned a living playing the dutar and singing at weddings and different festive occasions.

He was the author of lyrical, satirical, and didactic verses, as well as historical poems (The Genealogy, Aidos bii, Amangel’dy, Ernazar bii, and others). In the narrative poem ‘Tsar Samodur’ (The Petty Tyrant Tsar) Berdakh depicted the people’s struggle against a despotic Khan. The poet exalted labour as the basis of life and the source of man’s spiritual wealth. He ardently opposed social oppression and the oppression of women. Before the October Revolution, Berdakh’s works were disseminated by storytellers, poets, and readers.

During Berdakh's lifetime their developed strong national movements among the peoples of the Amu Darya and Aral Sea territory, especially among the Karakalpaks. Karakalpakia became a hotspot of discord within the Khanate of Khiva. The Khiva Khans constantly imposed heavy duties on its people and ruled with a heavy hand. Berdakh wrote not only about social problems of his time but also about the protection of women's rights and dignity. Berdakh influence in his homeland is still strong and his statue has a prominent place outside the Karakalpak Parliament.

WORKS

Tanglamalï shïgharamalarï. Nukus, 1956.

In Russian translation:

lzbrannoe. Nukus, 1958.

REFERENCE

Saghitov, I. Berdaktïng tvorchestvosï. Nukus, 1958.

The Great Soviet Encyclopaedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berdakh

Solar Power in Uzbekistan

LUKoil plans Uzbekistan’s largest solar project

LUKoil, in partnership with the government of Uzbekistan and the Asian Development Bank have announced they are planning to construct Uzbekistan largest solar energy plant, which will have an initial capacity of 100 megawatts, to expanded eventually to 1,000 megawatts. (Source:UzDaily.uz news website)

Solar Power in Uzbekistan - Introduction
During the Soviet era, Uzbekistan was the USSR’s leading centre for solar research and in 1965 the Uzbek Academy of Sciences began publishing “Geliotekhnika” ("Applied Solar Energy") quarterly journal, the former Soviet Union's sole scientific publication devoted to solar power, which continues today.

Government statistics report that Uzbekistan has more than 300 sunny days a year and the Centre for Economic Research of Uzbekistan is promoting the use of surplus power generation which can be exported to neighbouring energy-deficient countries.

According to Uzbek energy analysts, at present the country’s share of renewable energy does not exceed one percent despite Uzbekistan’s renewable energy potential, which they estimate at about 51 billion tons in oil equivalents, with solar energy providing 50.973 billion tons.

Future plans
In recent years, Uzbekistan has significantly focused its attention on the development of renewable energy resources and, in particular, solar energy, in a bid to diversify its energy balance and reduce its dependence on gas.

As part of its current plans, the government intends to design a state concept for the development of renewable energy sources. Furthermore, Uzbekistan is said to be cooperating with the Asian Development Bank to establish a National Institute for Solar Energy near the city of Navoi. Set to become a scientific centre, it will be responsible for the implementation of projects in the field of solar energy.

Sources : OilPrice.com and pv-magazine.com and Uzbekistan Today

Read more:

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/lukoil-plans-uzbekistans-largest-solar-project_100004744/#ixzz2hOa196gI
 

Linguistic map of the Altaic, Turkic and Uralic languages

Map of the Turkic Peoples

Note; Approximate boundaries Only.

The Altai - The ancestral homeland of the Turkic Peoples

The Turkic peoples are thought to have originated in the areas in and around the Altai Mountains of Siberia. Gradually they spread out and occupied large tracks of Siberia and Central Asia. In time groups emerged from within the Turkic horde, amongst whom are the Karluk (Uygur and Uzbek), Kipchak (Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Karakalpak and Tatar) and Oghuz (Turkmen, Azeri and Turks).  It is also regarded as the homeland of other nationalities Mongolians, Koreans and even Hungarians. The Ural-Altaic languages to whom all the groups (Turks, Mongols, Koreans and Hungarians) speak are named after the region.

Altai Mountains

The Altai Mountains are a mountain range in East-Central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their sources. They stretch for 1,200 miles across southwestern Mongolia from Siberia plain to the Gobi Desert. The mountains are of moderate height. There are several peaks over 4,500 meters. Those that are higher than 3,000 meters are snowcapped throughout the year. The region is rich in lakes and streams. The Ob, Irtysh and Yenisei all have their sources in the Altai. The Altai people live mainly in the broad plateaus, steppes and valleys of the ranges, where water is plentiful. The Altai complex of mountain ranges embraces the water divide mountains for all of Asia: the South Altai, the Inner Altai and the east Altai. The Mongolian Altai is connected to this mountain complex, rising to the southeast of the Siberian Altai region.

A varied region it has many landscapes forests, steppes, wild rivers, lakes, deserts, snow capped mountains and abundant wildlife.  The climate is continental with extremes in temperatures occurring between the summer and the winter. The mountains help to mitigate the extremes to some extent by causing a winter temperature inversion that produces an island of winter temperatures that are warmer than those in the Siberian taiga to the north and the Central Asian and Mongolian steppes to south and east. Even so temperatures drop as low as -48°C in the winter. The mountains are a gathering point for precipitation in a region that otherwise is dry. The most rain falls in July and August, with another smaller period of rain in late autumn. The western Altai receives around 50 centimeters of precipitation a year. The eastern Altai receives less: around 40 centimeters a year.

 Snow leopard

Natural vegetation in the region includes steppe grasses, shrubs and bushes and light forests of birch, fir, aspen, cherry, spruce, and pines, with many clearings in the forest. These forest merge with a modified taiga. Among the animals are hare, mountain sheep, several species of deer, bobac, woodchucks, lynx, polecats, snow leopards, wolves, bears, argali sheep, siberian ibex, mountain goats and deer. Bird species include pheasants, ptarmigan, goose, partridge, Altai snowcocks, owls, snipes and jays. In the streams and rivers are trout, grayling and the herring-like sig.

Siberian ibex

One of the world's oldest religious texts the Avesta celebrates its 2700th Anniversary

Photo: Uzbekistan declared 2001 to be the 2,700th anniversary of the holy book the Avesta.

Ancient Khoresm which today covers much of North Western Uzbekistan and parts of northern Turkmenistan is acknowledged by most historians to be the birthplace of Zoroaster also known as Zarathustra the founding prophet of Zoroastrianism the world's first monotheistic religion. It is considered to be the precursor to many of the modern day monotheistic religions particularly Christianity and Judaism.

Zoroastrianism was widespread in both the Transoxiania and Khorezm regions before the arrival of the Islam in the eight and ninth centuries CE. The major premise of Zoroastrianism is the vast cosmic struggle between Ahura Mazdah, the God of Light and Ahriman, the principal of Darkness and Evil.  

Photo: Shilpiq / Chilpik dakhma

The Chilpyk Tower of Silence located on the right bank of the Amu Darya River in Southern Karakalpakstan once served the surrounding region as a dakhma right up to the time of the Arab invasion of the early 7th century CE. There are signs of rebuilding or repair work in the 7th to 8th centuries BCE and again in the 9th and 10th century AD..

In 1940, Shilpiq was surveyed by Soviet archaeologist Sergei Tolstov and members of his early Khorezm Archaeological Expedition, a geodetic survey trig point being built on the dakhma. They found that it sits on a symmetrical conical 35-40 meters high hill, the circular structure of the dakhma approx. 79 meters in diameter. It's a 15 metre high walls were built from pakhsa or compacted clay. The walls where probably taller when built and taper towards the top from a wide base. On the west side of the walls is an opening accessed by a 20 metre-long staircase. At the start of the staircase is a tall pillar that can be seen from a distance. A ramp that starts from the river bank leads up to the pillar. Tower of Silence Burial practices are of special interest. Zoroastrian custom requires the body to the placed in the Dakhma shortly after death is confirmed, Bodies were placed on high hills or man-made summits and exposed to scavengers (usually vultures) who soon stripped the bones clean. The fastest means of transporting a body to the Dakhma would have been by boat. The numerous river arms and canals would have made water transport the most practical means of transportation. In addition, the river at the time of the dakhma's use would have been wider and closer to the base of the hill making the walk to the top much shorter than it is today. Funerary practices in Khvarizem, Sogdiana and the Semirechye indicate that after the bones of the body had been bleached and dried for about a year, the skeletal remains were then placed in ceramic ossuary containers and buried. It would be natural to expect that families would want to bury the remains closer to their towns rather than in the dakhma area and as such only a few ossuary's have been found at Shilpiq. The concentration of population were at settlements to the west at Mizdahkan  and south of the Sultanuiz hills (Sultan Uvays Dag) and that is where a larger number of ossuary's have been found. Today the north-south highway runs beside Shilpiq, with the provincial capital of Nukus 43 kilometres to the North. Nearby at Qara Tyube, bronze age petroglyphs can be found.