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Bruce Johnson from Tucson Water, Mark Stratton from Metro Water and I departed Tucson on Monday the 28th of October, 2002 for the 27 hour trip to Almaty, Kazakhstan. We had received several training classes in Russian as well as briefings from several people who had previously traveled to Almaty but as usual, the reality was much better than the expectation. We found the people of Almaty to be beautiful, warm, entrepreneurial people with a strong desire to make their country a better place.

Bolshaia Almaty Lake is the glacier fed water source for 30% of Almaty's water

During our visit we met with representatives of the Akimat (mayor's) office, with the head of Vodacanal (the water utility) as well as from Almaty-Sui, a joint venture between Vivendi Water of France, and the City of Almaty. We were told about the difficulties that they have delivering clean water to the residents due to 50+ year old steel pipes which are corroded as well as ground water contamination problems due to storm water runoff and old leaky sewer pipes. While these issues are not directly related to emergency preparedness, it was important to determine a baseline water quality level in order to be able to monitor for potential excursions (changes) from the norm. We were given an excellent tour of the city's surface water treatment facility and water quality testing laboratory. We also ventured into the mountains to visit the sources of their surface water which are glacier fed cold water lakes surrounded by fantastic 5,000+ meter mountains. The city receives approximately 30% of its water needs from these lakes. The other 70% comes from ground water sources, similar to Tucson.

In our discussions with the various officials we sensed an apprehension regarding our purpose for being there. It was obvious that there have been numerous groups that have come before to offer solutions for the various problems that the city has, and that most of these groups have come and gone with little to show for their efforts. We worked hard to get the point across that the relationship between Tucson and Almaty was over twelve years old, and that our goal was to help them use the personnel and resources that they already had, simply deployed in a possibly more efficient manner, to increase the level of emergency preparedness and security of their potable water supplies. There were several sites that we felt were important to visit in order to get a complete understanding of their current situation, however, we were told that we did not have the proper permissions to visit ground water well sites, or talk with the Emergency Special Situations Committee, which coordinates all emergency response type activities.

Mark at the Lab is Mark and Oxana observing a laboratory worker
demonstrating testing for bacteriological contamination of the water

Upon our return to Tucson the three of us discussed what we had learned and it was felt that we really needed to speak with the Emergency Special Situations Committee as well as view the security procedures in place at their well sites. This is necessary in order for us to plan a proper orientation and discussion when the Almaty team visits Tucson in March. The Tucson Water Company is using some state-of-the-art technologies for online water quality monitoring as well as well site security which we feel may be technology which can be cost effectively transferred to Almaty and other emerging markets. The city of Almaty is at the beginning of a complete rebuilding of its water infrastructure as part of a 30 year agreement with Vivendi Water, thus it is the perfect time to incorporate new technologies into the system in order to improve the safety and security. I will be returning to Almaty in middle January along with a member of our Citizens Water Advisory Board (who also happens to have a degree in biology/chemistry) as we have been given permission to visit the well sites, and to test the baseline conditions of the water system as well as meet with the Emergency Special Situations Committee.