CCOUNTING WATER USE OR WATER CONSUMPTION – WHERE THE WAY TO WATER-SAVING?

Water-saving forms a base for reallocation of water resources and more balanced integrated development of economic sectors of Central Asian countries. Implementation of water-saving programs can highly contribute to objectives laid down in the Strategic Scheme of Integrated Use and Protection of Water Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan. All three scenarios of water and land use studied in the scheme relay on water-saving, however an approach of water-saving is not clarified. This study discusses benefits and shortages of potential approaches to achieve water-saving at a basin scale using lessons from countries implemented basin scale water-saving projects. Three water use accounting methods discussed are as follows: (a) accounting efficiency; (б) accounting water use; (с) accounting water consumption. It is argued that the strategic scheme has to relay on real water-savings to meet growing water demand of different sectors of the economy.