COMMENTARY / World

A Soviet-era water scheme returns as a Eurasian lifeline

Long-abandoned plan aims to redirect Siberia’s freshwater to its southern neighbors

A monument to Russian Czar Alexander III on the embankment of the Siberian Ob River in Novosibirsk, Russia. Climate change is undermining Central Asia’s water supply by shrinking glaciers and rivers, prompting interest in the river as a potential source to meet the region’s needs. | Getty Images

By Djoomart Otorbaev
Project Syndicate

Mar 11, 2026

BISHKEK – For decades, the idea of redirecting a small share of Siberia’s vast freshwater resources toward Central Asia has been considered a relic of Soviet-era ambition. Recently, however, the proposal has gained renewed interest, as the underlying realities have changed: Central Asia’s water crisis is rapidly becoming existential, while Russia’s water surplus has increased to such an extent that it now poses environmental risks of its own.

The convergence of climate, economic and geopolitical crises, together with recent technological advances, has transformed this once-impractical proposal into an urgent policy priority. The Earth Sciences Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences recently announced plans to assess the feasibility of redirecting 1% to 2% of the Ob River’s annual flow to Central Asia.

This figure is deliberately modest. Siberian rivers discharge roughly 3,000 cubic kilometers (792 trillion gallons) of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean and the proposed diversion — about 20 to 70 cubic kilometers — would have virtually no impact on Russia’s vast water reserves. But for countries like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, it could be transformative.