On the morning of June 22, a footage surfaced on social networks, showing large volumes of water being discharged from the Tupalang reservoir in Sariosiyo district of Surkhandarya province, which flooded the surrounding area. One of the videos shows women and children preparing to evacuate, helicopters flying over the area.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Uzbekistan reported that at 8:14 a.m. the water level in the reservoir rose sharply. With a planned spillway of 70 cubic meters per second, it has grown to 110 cubic meters, the report said.
“The integrity of the reservoir has not been violated, work is underway to reduce water volumes,” the Ministry of Emergency Situations noted.
The report noted that the design volume of the reservoir of Tupalang HPP is 400 million cubic meters, the actual volume is 378.87 million cubic meters. At the same time, the provinceal database CAWATER.info states that the total volume of the reservoir is 500 million cubic meters, the useful one is 470.
The channel Tupalang reservoir was built on the Tupalang River in 1990 for irrigation purposes. By the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan dated March 29, 2021 (No. 164), it was transferred to the Uzbekhydroenergo company.
Statement of Uzbekhydroenergo
The Uzbekhydroenergo company issued a statement in which it called the information in social networks about the destruction of the dam and the flooding of nearby areas as a "fake".
The report said that the project for the modernization of component 2 of the Tupalang HPP at the Tupalang reservoir is currently being implemented. “During test work in the pressure pipe, 40 cubic meters of water came out through it,” the company says.
“There are no problems with the dam. There is no reason for concern!” the statement says.
“To date, this malfunction has been completely eliminated. 40 cubic meters of water are completely directed to the canal,” Uzbekhydroenergo noted.
“We ask the fellow countrymen not to believe various unfounded reports and not to succumb to excessive panic,” the company urged.
