Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the upstream countries, possess more water than they need for domestic use and consume more power than they can produce themselves. In contrast, the downstream nations of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have energy resources, but lack sufficient water supplies. These complementary conditions should promote mutually beneficial arrangements that foster regional growth and the rational use of natural resources. However, the experience of the past decade shows that discord has been more prevalent than agreement in Central Asia. The root cause is not a shortage of water or energy.
Water supplies are plentiful in Central Asia, and the region is developing into an oil and gas hub.
Thus, the Central Asian water and energy problem is one of distribution, not supply. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are now taking steps to alter current arrangements, attempting to make more efficient use of their water resources in order to boost domestic energy production. Successful implementation of the reforms could clear away major obstacles that hinder the rational use of water and energy resources in the region. Like many of the other pressing public policy problems of the former communist world, the water and energy problem in Central Asia has its roots in the disjunction between the physical infrastructure and the new countries desires to foster economic self-sufficiency, even at the cost of environmental security and cooperative arrangements with their neighbors. During the Soviet period, decisions about the production and distribution of energy and the distribution of water were centralized, coming down from Moscow.