Azerbaijan's renewable surface freshwater resources have decreased by 5.6 billion cubic meters or 24% to 17.8 billion cubic meters during 2000-2023, said the "National Strategy for Efficient Use of Water Resources" approved by the order of President Ilham Aliyev, Report informs.
According to the strategy, 13.2 billion cubic meters of surface freshwater resources are formed from transboundary waters and 4.6 billion cubic meters from local river flows.
The decrease during the reporting period was 100% attributable to transboundary waters. However, in 2020-2023, there was an increase of 3.9 billion cubic meters or 28% in surface freshwater resources. This includes a 40.4% increase in transboundary waters and a 2.2% increase in local river flows.
Azerbaijan also has 8.4 billion cubic meters of underground freshwater resources. This brings the country's renewable freshwater resources to 26.2 billion cubic meters.
It is reported that Azerbaijan's water resources are limited compared to other countries in the South Caucasus and constitute about 15% of the water resources in the entire region. The per capita water resource in Azerbaijan is also the lowest compared to neighboring countries.
Surface water resources are mainly concentrated in rivers. There are a total of 8,359 rivers in Azerbaijan. Most of these are small (less than 5 km long) and have low water content. Approximately 75% of Azerbaijan's territory is part of the Kura River basin. About 70% of river water resources are formed in the territories of neighboring countries, while the rest (local flow) is formed from internal rivers.