Vast reserves, but little to drink: Tajikistan’s water struggles

To quench his thirst, Tajik labourer Nematoullo Bassirov must take a risk — drawing water from the stream running through his yard and hoping he won’t fall sick.

Despite mountain glaciers providing Tajikistan with abundant reserves in the otherwise arid region of Central Asia, access to clean, safe drinking water is still a privilege in the poor country.

“There’s all sorts of dirt in it,” Bassirov told AFP, scooping out garbage bags, food wrappers and empty energy drink cans from the small canal.

Sometimes he finds diapers, or droppings from his neighbour’s geese.

The stream is used by his entire village in the Balkh district, known widely by its Soviet-era name of Kolkhozobod, in southwestern Tajikistan.

“After irrigating the crops, muddy water arrives here containing pesticides,” th