«Междисциплинарный диалог науки и общества
в эпоху экологических перемен»
3
LEGAL MONITORING OF GROUNDWATER IN THE CASE
OF UZBEKISTAN
Otamirzaev Oybek
Lecturer, Department of Environmental Law, Tashkent State University of Law
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
E-mail: otamirzaev2107@gmail.com
Abstract
. Today, there is a need for legal regulation of groundwater. Pollution
of groundwater, its unfitness for consumption, is a result of natural and human
activities, which leads to environmental threats. In order to eliminate such
deplorable situations, the process of measuring and determining the actual state of
groundwater, its quantity, composition, and degree of pollution is called monitoring.
Full and effective monitoring reveals detailed information in the field and
determines the need for additional work on any shortcomings.
Keywords:
inspection, water quality, state monitoring, decree, principles,
observation well.
Annotatsiya.
Bugungi kunda yer osti suvlarini huquqiy jihatdan tartibga
solish zarurati paydo bo‘lgan. Yer osti suvlarining ifloslanishi va iste’molga yaroqsiz
holga kelishi tabiiy va inson faoliyati natijasida yuz berib, ekologik xavf
tug‘dirmoqda. Bunday salbiy holatlarni bartaraf etish maqsad
ida yer osti
suvlarining haqiqiy holati, miqdori, tarkibi va ifloslanish darajasini o‘lchash hamda
aniqlash jarayoni monitoring deb yuritiladi. To‘liq va samarali monitoring orqali
sohadagi batafsil ma’lumotlar aniqlanib, mavjud kamchiliklar ustida qo‘shim
cha
ishlar olib borish zarurligi belgilanadi.
Kalit so‘zlar:
tekshiruv, suv sifati, davlat nazorati, farmon, tamoyillar,
kuzatuv quduq
Аннотация.
В настоящее время существует потребность в правовом
регулировании подземных вод. Загрязнение грунтовых вод, их непригодность
для потребления являются результатом как природных процессов, так и
деятельности человека, что приводит к экологическим угрозам. Для
предотвращения таких неблагоприятных ситуаций применяется
мониторинг
-
процесс измерения и определения фактического состояния
подземных вод, их количества, состава и степени загрязнения. Полноценный
и эффективный мониторинг позволяет получить детальную информацию
на местности и определить необходимость дополнительных работ по
устранению выявленных недостатков.
«Междисциплинарный диалог науки и общества
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Ключевые слова:
инспекция, качество воды, государственный
мониторинг, постановление, принципы, наблюдательная скважина.
Uzbekistan is implementing large-scale reforms aimed at improving the
water resources management system, ensuring the rational use of water for the
needs of the population and economic sectors, and preventing the harmful effects
of water and eliminating its consequences.
At the same time, due to the increasing need for drinking water among the
population, the continued drilling of wells without permission, and the
uncontrolled and unaccounted use of water, there is a need to strengthen
measures to protect groundwater resources.
The following principles have been established internationally within
the framework of groundwater protection:
1) Non-segregation in the management and protection of groundwater.
This task involves not focusing on the importance of groundwater types such as
drinking, industrial, and mineral.
2) Joint action to preserve and improve the quality and condition of
groundwater. It obliges states, as well as organizations within states, to work
together;
3) Vertical implementation of groundwater protection relations at the
national and local levels;
4) A comprehensive approach to regulating the sector. The organization of
work in the agricultural, industrial, energy, healthcare, and other areas of the
sector requires compliance with regulations related to groundwater [1].
Among the works carried out by the Inspection of the Ministry of Mining
and Geology of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2024, monitoring was carried out in
more than 11 thousand wells belonging to 142 entities for the drilling and use of
groundwater, more than 9 thousand wells belonging to 76 business entities that
were used without a permit were stopped, and fines in the amount of 95 million
soums were imposed [2].
As we can see from these statistics, violations in the sector certainly call for
all of us to be vigilant and strengthen public oversight.
First of all, it is necessary to pay attention to the concept of monitoring. The
resolution of the Cabinet o
f Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On improving
the system of state monitoring of the environment in the Republic of Uzbekistan”
defines the concept of state monitoring of the environment.
State monitoring of the environment is defined as a system of regular
monitoring of the state of biotic and abiotic components of the environment, their
changes due to pollution and other harmful effects (processes) of anthropogenic
activity, and the use of natural resources according to an approved program to
determine the level of pollution of the environment, assess its ecological state,
predict and eliminate the consequences of negative processes.
«Междисциплинарный диалог науки и общества
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Concluding this, it is necessary to develop the concept of state monitoring
of groundwater. This will play an important role in strengthening control over the
sector, preventing misunderstandings and ensuring its full protection [3]. In our
opinion, state monitoring of groundwater is a system of regular monitoring of the
state of groundwater, its changes due to pollution and other harmful effects
(processes) of anthropogenic activity, and their use according to established
criteria to determine the level of groundwater pollution, assess their ecological
status, predict the consequences of negative processes, and eliminate them.
According to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of
Uzbekistan “On measures to further regulate activities in the field of groundwater
use”, groundwater monitoring is divided into two types: state and production
monitoring [4]. State monitoring is carried out at the expense of the state budget
at the republican (covering the entire territory of the republic) and local levels
(covering a limited area by physical and geographical, administrative, etc.).
Production monitoring includes several wells or individual wells located in
separate areas with technogenic impact on groundwater at the expense of legal
entities and individuals.
According to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of
Uzbekistan “On Approva
l of the Regulation on the Procedure for Conducting
Subsoil Monitoring of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, monitoring is carried out at the
following levels:
at the republican level (covers the entire territory of the republic);
at the regional level (covers the territory limited by physical-geographical,
administrative and other boundaries);
local (production) monitoring (covers the territory of certain natural-
technogenic and landscape-ecological complexes).
Initially, groundwater monitoring was regulated by the Regulation on the
Procedure for Conducting Subsurface Monitoring of the Republic of Uzbekistan,
but later, there was a need to fully regulate the sector with regulatory legal acts.
Groundwater monitoring is intended to assess the state of groundwater in
terms of its qualitative [5] and quantitative indicators and to forecast changes,
including changes in the use of groundwater deposits, to account for and use
forecast groundwater resources and reserves, and to prepare information for
inclusion in state groundwater cadastres.
Taking into account the role of drinking groundwater, the condition of
which directly affects the health of the population, as well as the importance and
value of healing mineral groundwater, the prospects for using thermal
groundwater as a renewable energy source and its industrial components, we
believe that it is necessary to strengthen the planning of groundwater use by
legislation in program documents for the development of the geological industry.
Groundwater is a source of centralized water supply and is an object of
social and hygienic monitoring, the legal regulation of which is carried out at the
«Междисциплинарный диалог науки и общества
в эпоху экологических перемен»
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republican and regional levels. Territorial legal regulation of sanitary and
hygienic monitoring of groundwater used for drinking water supply determines
the procedure for monitoring the quality of groundwater used for centralized
drinking water supply [6].
One of the sore points in the industry is the issue of determining ownership
during the purchase and sale of real estate for wells drilled for groundwater,
canceling the permit, transferring the right to the permit to another person, and
plugging the well if it is no longer needed or has become unusable. In this regard,
the Decree of the President
of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On the State Program
for the Implementation of the Strategy “Uzbekistan —
2030” in the Year of
Environmental Protection and “Green Economy”” also sets the task of closing
unused, ownerless, illegally dug groundwater wells that negatively affect the state
of groundwater, and in accordance with it: 1. Conduct an inventory of unused,
ownerless, illegally dug groundwater wells in the republic; 2. Develop a program
for closing (tamponing) unused, ownerless, illegally dug groundwater wells based
on the results of the inventory; 3. Instructions were given to begin tamponing
work and submit information on closed wells to the Cabinet of Ministers and the
Ministry of Ecology every quarter [7]. This has served as one of the most effective
and rational changes in the field. According to the legislation of most American
territorial units and Australian states, the right of ownership of wells dug for
special use and consumption belongs to the landowners [8]. In this regard, we
propose that during the process of issuing a permit, the customer should be
obliged to safely bury the dug well at their own expense or transfer the right to it
to another person.
Groundwater monitoring involves specially organized regular observations
of the state of groundwater (observation points, photography, inspection, search
and remote sensing), identification of changes, their estimation, changes in the
state of groundwater, identification of sources of impact on groundwater, natural
and man-made processes and factors affecting groundwater, and a forecast of the
level of pollution of the geological environment.
References:
1.
Governance, Groundwater. "A global framework for action." GEF and FAO
(2017), 124 b;
2.
Briefing on the work carried out by the Mining and Geological
Supervision Inspectorate in 2024, 10.02.2025;
3.
Maksudjon, A. (2020). Developing Norm Creativity in the Process of
Ensuring the Rule of Law in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Review of law sciences,
1(Спецвыпуск), 53
-56.
4.
Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No.
430 dated June 27, 2017 “On measur
es to further regulate activities in the field of
groundwater use”;
«Междисциплинарный диалог науки и общества
в эпоху экологических перемен»
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5.
Oybek, Otamirzaev. "International Experience in the Use of
Transboundary Water Resources and Issues of its Regulation." Indonesian Journal
of Law and Justice 1.3 (2024): 7-7;
6.
Taylor, Charles J., and William M. Alley. Ground-water-level monitoring
and the importance of long-term water-level data. Vol. 1217. Denver, CO, USA: US
Geological Survey, 2001, 485;
7.
O‘zbekiston Respublikasi Prezidentining 2025
-yil 9-fevraldagi
“O‘zbekiston —
2030” strategiyasini “Atrof
-
muhitni asrash va “yashil iqtisodiyot”
yilida amalga oshirishga oid davlat dasturi to‘g‘risida”gi 16
-sonli farmoni;
8.
Burchi, S., and M. Nanni. "How groundwater ownership and rights
influence groundwater intensive use management." Intensive use of
groundwater: Challenges and opportunities (2003): 227-240.
