Fed by melting glaciers from the Tian Shan Mountains, the Naryn River flows toward the west to form one of the region’s main sources of water, the Syr Darya. While the Kyrgyz government is counting on the Naryn to provide power for the Kambar-Ata hydropower plants, scientists worry that melting glaciers could drastically reduce water flow. (Photo: David Trilling)
The source of the problem is melting glaciers. In fact, Kyrgyzstan’s glaciers are starting to recede at an alarming rate. With them, the country’s once limitless supply of fresh water – and electricity – is washing away. The change threatens to disrupt a vital cycle: the glaciers melt in the summer when the water fills up reservoirs needed to produce power during the cold winter months when the glaciers accumulate again. Bishkek depends on hydropower to create 93 percent of the country’s electricity and hopes – to its downstream neighbors’ vexation – new hydropower plants will help end chronic shortages.
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