President of Kazakhstan Qasym-Jomart Toqaev has addressed the country's water shortage, infohub.kz reports.
The head of state stressed that the shortage of water resources in the country demands systemic and decisive measures. Above all, it is necessary to ensure the widespread adoption of the principles of rational and thrifty water use — a resource whose value is hard to overstate in today's realities.
Toqaev said the government and local akimats should tighten control over water consumption, cutting losses in the networks and ruling out the misuse of drinking water, in particular at car washes.
"Water must be valued at its real cost. On my instructions, the government has launched a large-scale tariff reform in the water sector. It must be brought to its logical conclusion. A careful attitude to water must become a mandatory principle of management," the president said.
He noted that full and reliable accounting of water resources makes it critical to make full use of digital tools. This will allow well-founded decisions to be made when planning new production facilities. The government should therefore complete the creation of the National Water Resources Information System as soon as possible, Toqaev said.