Kyrgyzstan: Water Shortage Ratchets Up Social Tension

As if electricity blackouts weren't bad enough, now residents in rural Kyrgyzstan are having difficulties accessing water. Without electricity, Kyrgyzstan's new water pumping system is inoperable; and some pumps have been damaged by the irregular supply of power.

"The energy crisis and the drinking water supply have a direct connection. If there is no electricity, in most cases it means there is no water," Talant Ormushev, head of production at the Department of Rural Water Supply, told EurasiaNet.

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