Nura River Clean-Up Project

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The development objective of the Nura River Cleanup Project for Kazakhstan is to improve the welfare of the population in the Nura River Basin by cleaning up serious mercury pollution in and adjacent to the Nura River, providing a safe, secure, and cost-effective alternative source of water supply to meet growing needs of local water users, and restoring flow control in the river for flood managmement and ecological purposes. There are four project components. The first includes financing to 1) construct a secure landfill for proper containment of contaminated soil and materials; 2) excavate contaminated hotspots at the AO Karbide plant site at Temirtau (factory building, main drain, and adjacent waste disposal sites); and 3) excavate other highly contaminated areas including the Zhaur Swamp, and critical areas of mercury accumulation along the banks and floodplains of the Nura River, as well as the transport of the materials to the landfill site. Component 2 finances rehabilitation of the Intumak Reservoir, including reinforcement of the dam and completion of the spillway and gates to allow the dam to operate as a mechanism for flow control at its original design reservoir level. Component 3 finances technical assistance, training, and equipment needed to increase the institutional capacity of the Nura-Sarysu River Basin Authority, in order to strengthen its resource planning and management capacity, as well as to strengthen the water quality monitoring network, and water pollution control systems. Component 4 covers a number of activities related to project management and monitoring, including providing training in areas such as procurement, disbursement, and project accounting; auditing project accounts; assisting in implementing the environmental management plan, especially in regard to public awareness; and specialist assistance in areas such as hydrology, social sciences, and environmental management.