沙漠研究 22-1, 199 -202 (2012 )"ICAL 1 / DT X"

Journal of Arid Land Studies－Refereed Paper－Water Quality Monitoring and Geospatial Database Coupled withHydrological Data of Zeravshan River BasinTemur KHUJANAZAROV*1), Yutaka ICHIKAWA1), Iskandar ABDULLAEV2) and Kristina TODERICH 3)
Abstract: This paper focuses on water quality monitoring of the main streams, irrigation canals, collector-drainage system ofZeravshan River Basin and on developing a platform for efficient data management and sharing of water quality and hydrologicaldatasets. The water quality monitoring had been carried out from 2005 to 2010 throughout the basin and collected water samples,hydrological, meteorological and economic data indicate that generally water in the downstream part of the basin was in significant
low quality. The water contains high concentration of salts and heavy metals that could be dangerous for people livelihood. The
water quality datasets are stored in a newly developed web-based geospatial database, coupled with hydrological data collected during
many years. The database integrates quantitative and qualitative datasets into spatially-explicit maps which help intuitive data
handling and easy sharing for collaboration work. The web-based feature of the database with online access to the visualized maps ofhydrological and water quality datasets provides an interactive framework solution for collaboration among those involved in water
resources management in Zeravshan river basin.
Key Words: Central Asia, Hydrological data, Water quality, Web-based platforms, Zeravshan River

1. Introduction
Zeravshan river basin is the origin place of the agriculturaland urban civilization of Central Asia and is the main source of
potable water for the Zeravshan valley, one of the highest
populated area in Uzbekistan, with population density around80-100 people/km2. Among Central Asian rivers Zeravshan
river basin is profoundly affected by mismanagement of thewater resources, due to the huge diversion of irrigation anddrainage network to the crop fields, as well as water losses in a
result of soil infiltration and evaporation. The amount ofwater diversion for irrigation is almost equal to the total waterflow of the river. Moreover, the stagnant and conventional
agricultural irrigation practices induce high accumulation of
toxic salt, heavy metals, biogenic and other types of pollutantsin soil, plants, surface and drinking water (Tsukatani andKatayama, 2001, Toderich et al., 2005).
Inefficient use of water for irrigation coupled withinadequate maintenance of drainage systems caused landdegradation and water quality deterioration, mostly appeared indownstream areas. Water quality of Zeravshan river basin
being significantly contaminated in the downstream can beeven worse under frequent droughts that may be intensified byclimate change in the Central Asia. Severe droughts of
2001-2002 and 2007-2008 serve an evidence supporting
occurrence of devastating climate change and glaciers-snow

melting impact (Agaltseva, 2002). Low quality of waterraises economic and social burden due to increased incidents ofhealth problems (Fayzieva, 2004, Saito, 2010).
Planning and management strategies for water resources
systems in this basin face another problem - data scarcity.
The problem is caused by decreased number of active stationsin the gauging network, because of reduced funding andpolitical tension on water issues between countries sharing thebasin.
To mitigate the problem the authors had collected a large
amount of datasets related water environment in this region
from 2005-2010 years. This collection of datasets can beuseful not only for researchers but also local communities toinvestigate better water management. Additionally easy
access and handling of the datasets supported by auser-friendly data repository will intensify an efficiency ofcollaboration work. This idea served as a motivation todevelop a platform for data repository with online access andsharing functions of hydrological information (Khujanazarovet al., 2011). The platform can be used individually andcollectively; a single user can use it as a workspace and a group
can develop its own database storing collected datasets withgeospatial visualization or use it as a collaboration space.
The goal of this study is 1) to show the monitoring resultsof water quality in Zeravshan river basin, and 2) to develop awell-structured and easily accessible database of the waterquality datasets coupled with hydrological data, for better* Corresponding Author: g09dea04@yamanashi.ac.jp
Takeda 4-3-11, Kofu, Yamanashi 400-8511, Japan1) Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Japan

3) International Center for Biosaline Agriculture for Central Asia and Caucasus, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

2) Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GmbH Transboundary Water Management in Central Asia (TWMCA) Programme

Fig. 2. Water salinity level along Zeravshan river (2005-2010).
Fig. 1. Zeravshan river basin. Black dots are sampling sites.

communication on water resources management of this basin.

2. Water quality monitoring
2.1. Methodology
The authors have performed water quality monitoring andassessment from 2005 to 2010 along Zeravshan river inUzbekistan. The river network is divided into three large
parts: upper stream, middle stream and downstream areas.
From 74 sampling sites along the river course from the main
channel and its tributaries, canals and drainage collectors water
samples had been collected (Fig. 1). The monitoring points
are located over the basin allowing spatial and statisticalanalysis of water distribution.
The monitoring wasaccompanied by hydrological and meteorological observations
as well as soil and plant chemistry analysis. At each samplingsite pH, electronic conductivity (Ec), turbidity (Tur), dissolved
oxygen (Do), water temperature (T) and total dissolved salts(TDS) of river water were obtained by Horiba multiple water
quality monitoring system as U-10; LMO or U-20, Meter
TOLEDO, ATAGO. The samples ware processed by HP
4500 inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS)
to detect substances found in river and drinking water.
2.2. Water quality monitoring results
The monitored datasets show that water quality of theupper part is significantly different than that in the lower
reaches of Zeravshan river valley. Results showed that theriver water consists of a variety of salts such as chlorides, ofcalcium, magnesium, biogenic elements and radionuclide withhigh concentration especially in the downstream area. Down
the stream from mountains to Navoi city average mineralization
increases from 0.3 to 1.5 g/l and then in Bukhara oasis itreaches 2.8 g/l. Mineralization level of water in the collectorand drainage, broadly used in Bukhara oasis, is higher andranges from 2.5 to 4.9 g/l. Lower mineralization (0.6-0.7 g/l)
occurs in canals of which water is taken from the Amu Daryariver and is used for irrigation and partially for potable

Fig. 3. NH4+ contents observed in year 2010.

water supply of Bukhara region.
As shown in Figure 2, salinity level generally increases as
it goes towards the downstream. It is mainly due to of the saltload in the return flows from irrigated areas discharged via thecollector drains, which are usually poorly maintained. In thelower reaches of Zeravshan river basin there have beensignificant increases in mineralization of water and soil over
the time because of the expansion of irrigated agriculture.
The increased salinity level is mostly caused by leachingpractice of irrigation and accompanied decrease of river water
discharge to the downstream in the last decade.
Surface water from different sources in Bukhara oasis anda part of Karakul plateau (lower reach of Zeravshan river) is
also contaminated by discharges from sewage treatment
facilities. The extent of non-point pollution from a growing
number of livestock has shown only a slight increase on total
dissolved salts (TDS), ammonium and other nitrates in water
samples of surveyed area. The maximum value of nitrates in
the water was recorded in late autumn-winter seasons. The
ammonium NH4 concentration, shown in Figure 3, within theinvestigated area of the basin from Tajikistan border throughBukhara oasis into Kyzyl-Kum sandy desert, can be used as a
bio-indicator of the sanitary state of surface and undergroundwater. The gradual accumulation of NH4 ions could be due towater pollution caused by communal and agricultural wastes or
artificial water management in the desert areas.
According to the monitoring results, Zeravshan river wateralso contains traces of some heavy metals that exceed theFig. 4. Water contamination by heavy metals (2007).

Fig. 5. Design philosophy of the platform. (Khujanazarov et al, 2011).

guidelines proposed by World Health Organization and Foodand Agricultural Organization. The traces of lithium -Li7(8.67 - 691.8), chromium -Cr53 (7.45 - 100.5), strontium -Sr88(378.8 - 11780) and lead -Pb208, arsenic -As75 and others were
frequently detected in the water samples (Fig. 4). The impactof heavy metals on health of the local residents must be
thoroughly studied; especially the transfer of heavy metals
through food, freshwater and through natural ecosystems
chains (Khujanazarov and Tsukatani, 2007).

the study. This initiative lead to the development, by some ofauthors, of a web-based hydrological platform aimed to createa collaborative, comprehensive data storing system that canprovide interacting possibilities with available datasets.
Figure 5 shows design philosophy of the platform, whichuses combination of geographical maps with a whiteboard formagnet pinning in association with hydrological tools.
Pinning a dataset on a specified place helps to organize adataset library on the map and move from a large list of files tothe visualized maps of obtained data (Khujanazarov et al.,2011). The platform is web-based and aimed to share open
data among those who are interested, especially at the areas
with information scarcity problem. It is a simple tool to map,
store, search and share datasets collected though different
research activities, in order to manage a large amount ofdatasets. The platform is based on open source web solutions,and its geospatial visualization is provided by Google Maps
API. Google Maps API provides geographical maps, andmost its API functions can be used in the platform, such as map
zooming, choosing satellite images and others.

3. Developing geospatial database of Zeravshan river
basin for effective data management
3.1. Motivation
Initially when the water quality monitoring was started, thecollected datasets were stored in GIS maps mainly consistingof three layers of hydrological, chemical and meteorological
data. The GIS maps allowed for creating a digital coverageof the irrigated agriculture area of Zeravshan river basin, which
was used as a template for further mapping of physical andchemical water parameters. The results of chemical analysis
were also transformed into digital GIS maps. These maps
gave a great opportunity for visualized preview of study results,
providing highly informative view on the research area.
During monitoring years, however, the amount of collected
information has been growing significantly and it ranges awide variety of dataset types as well. Currently, the collected
datasets include not only monitored chemical data but alsohydrological, economical and social data for almost entire areaof the basin covering many different aspects of river and basin
infrastructure, extending to the upstream parts of the basin.
These datasets can be very useful not only for researchers
working in the basin but also to the local communities. The
previously used approach (GIS maps) was very usual fordatasets handling; on the other hand, these solutions failed toprovide a simple and effective way for sharing datasets with
communities, and to organize well a growing amount of
dataset files. The task for managing and storing datasets in aneasily accessible repository platform forms a vital portion of

3.2. Zeravshan river database developed on the platform
The datasets monitored in Zeravshan river basin havestarted to be stored in the platform (Fig. 6). Currently thedatasets on water quality analysis from 2005 to 2010 for eachyear and average monthly discharge data obtained at gauging
stations from 1970 to 2000 for 20 stations have been pinned on
different map layers. These layers are for salinization,nutrient pollution, heavy metals pollutions and hydrological
data. Each point on the map layers is assigned to thesampling site or gauging station and these points are attachedwith files of collected information.
The platform
automatically recognizes different data file types and shows thepoints with different marker icons corresponding to the data
file types. This function provides visual interpretation about
what type of data is available on the map layers.
The datasets were added to the platform by simple mouseclick on the maps or by importing them from a list formatted as
an excel spreadsheet. Because the datasets are alreadyFig. 6. Map of Zeravshan river basin with pinned data source.

uploaded and stored on the platform, a user is freed fromarranging them. The applications provided by the platform
are responsible for managing datasets, while notes andkeywords for the datasets are used as anchors to find them.
One of the advantages of the database is an easy integration ofunstructured, sparse and diverse datasets from different sources
into a data repository with simple visualization. A wide
variety of information and data resources from various sources
with different background can be added to the database andwill increase its potential for broader use.
The platform provides several ways of searching datasets; auser can find a desired dataset by filtering data types andsearching with specified keywords through notes or given
descriptions.
The platform also provides catchment
delineation, which facilitates data spotting for a target
catchment. It can be used with filtering and searching.
Combination of filtering, keyword searching and catchment
delineation can even more effectively narrow down the output
results. The found data files can be downloaded from the
pop-up window of each point.
Another advantage of the database built on the web-basedplatform is easy sharing of diverse datasets through the internet.
It can provide not only individual researchers with a visualized
desktop application of available datasets or dataset repository
solution, but also researchers working in big projects with
benefits of an integrated collaborative working environment
based on visible maps of collected datasets coupled with usefulhydrological functions.
Currently water quality and hydrological data of Zeravshan
river basin are accessible to the users. The database willcontinue to grow gradually with ongoing water environment
monitoring and accumulation of activities for better water
resources management in Central Asia including Zeravshan
river basin.

4. Conclusion
The monitoring results show that water quality, especiallyin downstream area is subjected to serious pollution. Salinity
trends and water pollution management in Zeravshan river
basin mostly in the downstream of the river should be further
checked for regional water quality control. Maintenance andsustainable use of water resources should be monitored andpaid great attention. Improvements in irrigation system,
which also include functioning of drainage collector network toinsure water quality and reduce impact of salinity in return
flow from irrigated land should be considered.
The developed Zeravshan river basin database can be ahelpful reference to find solutions of a wide range of arisingproblems in planning water management through available
information and datasets. It provides a simple tool to sharecollected information, which can be important in the poorly
observed area. Providing the datasets through the web-based
platform will help in building a centralized data repository forthis basin. Visual representation of the datasets on maps will
facilitate sharing them among interested local communities andresearchers. The database will continue to grow with theaccumulation of information, datasets and knowledge acquiredby research activities and practices of better water resourcesmanagement for the basin.

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