Kostruba: From Water That Harms to Water That Heals

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The village of Kostruba in the Takhtakupyr district remains inaccessible by official roads. To reach it from Nukus, travelers must cross the northern border of Karakalpakstan into Kazakhstan and then continue along sandy tracks connecting scattered homes.

Located 280 kilometers from the regional center, residents live without asphalt roads, mobile coverage, and, most critically, clean drinking water, according to the UNDP Office in Uzbekistan.

Alauatdin Serkebayev has led the Kostruba community for twenty-four years. In 2019, he underwent surgery to remove his pancreas; his wife is preparing for the same procedure, and his younger brother recently underwent similar surgery. “The groundwater level has dropped over the years, and salinity keeps rising. People here suffer from kidney and liver stones. We’ve been drinking this water our entire lives because we have no alternative,” Serkebayev explains.

Health studies in the Aral Sea region highlight high rates of kidney, liver, and biliary diseases caused by decades of consumption of highly mineralized and contaminated water. Pancreatic diseases, often linked to gallstone disorders, follow the same pattern.

When the UNDP team arrived in Kostruba for a community development workshop, villagers gathered at School No. 23—the only building with Wi-Fi and the only place connecting the community to the outside world. There, the key question was asked: what does the community need most? The answer was clear: first, drinking water; then solar energy, mobile coverage, and roads.

“There’s an artesian well in front of the school, drilled back in the 1970s,” explained Temirbek Tolegenov, head of the local council. “We draw water from this well, but without proper filtration systems, it is unsafe to drink.” This infrastructure represents both a challenge and an opportunity: with the right investment, it could serve the community for decades.

Photovoltaic panels installed between 2003 and 2007 under the UNDP project “Clean Energy for Rural Communities in Karakalpakstan” still supply electricity to several homes.

“The top priority is to provide people with clean water; solar energy comes second. Upgrading the panels would significantly improve daily life,” says Alauatdin.

Kostruba is not the only community involved in the UNDP project “Enhancing the Resilience of Remote Communities in the Aral Region,” supported by the Coca-Cola Foundation. A new water supply station is being constructed in Kostruba to serve 27 households, producing 24,000 liters daily.

In Karabaily, home to 496 people, the existing water system is being restored, and in Daukare, the reconstruction will cover 502 households and more than 2,500 people. In both communities, initiative groups are being created to ensure long-term system management, alongside the introduction of water-saving agricultural technologies, including drip irrigation.

“My children will drink this water. My grandchildren will drink this water. We’ve seen how the 2003 solar panels continue to work because people took care of them. We’ll do the same with the water station so it serves Kostruba for generations,” says Asylzat Zhametova, a math teacher and member of the initiative group.

The road to Kostruba remains a sandy track, but hope endures. Alauatdin, watching the dust of the Kyzylkum Desert and remembering what it means to drink water that harms, now looks forward to discovering what it means to drink water that heals.

Since 2011, UNDP and the Coca-Cola Foundation have implemented long-term support projects for vulnerable communities in Uzbekistan, including constructing and modernizing water supply systems and providing healthcare assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.