Kazakhstan’s Water Code: What Businesses Should Know Before 2027

Kazakhstan’s new Water Code, adopted on 9 April 2025, introduced a more conservation-focused and risk-based approach to water regulation. This follows earlier discussions around the draft Water Code, including the key proposed changes covered in our article “Kazakhstan Water Code Draft for 2024: What Is New.” Although the Code is already in force, several provisions that may materially affect businesses and other water users will apply from 1 January 2027.

One of the key changes concerns the calculation of water-use limits. From 2027, such limits will be determined only after calculating the environmental flow, meaning the mandatory volume of water that must remain in the natural environment to preserve water ecosystems.

From 1 January 2027, additional requirements of Kazakhstan’s new Water Code for special water use permit will enter into force. Special water use includes abstraction of water from rivers, lakes, reservoirs and other surface water bodies, abstraction of groundwater, use of drainage water or associated groundwater during subsoil use or construction activities, discharge of treated wastewater into the environment, and regulation of surface runoff. At the same time, certain exceptions apply, including water abstraction from a mine or tube well of the first aquifer where it is not used for centralised drinking water supply, abstraction of up to 5 m³ per day for non-centralised water supply, watering of distant pastures subject to applicable conditions, and accumulation of meltwater, stormwater and floodwater.

Under Article 45(4) of the Water Code, an applicant for a special water-use permit must confirm that it has:

• ownership or lawful use rights to the relevant water management or hydrotechnical facility, or technical device used for special water use;
• technical passport and operating rules for the water management facility, and, for potentially hazardous hydrotechnical facilities, a safety declaration;
• compliance of the requested water-use volume with the approved operational limit;
• registered measuring devices for abstracted water and discharged treated wastewater;
• sanitary-epidemiological approval and sanitary protection zones, where water is abstracted for drinking and household supply;
• approved specific norms of water consumption and wastewater discharge, or supporting calculations where required;
• a five-year plan for reducing water losses and implementing best available technologies, unless an exemption applies (from 1 January 2027);
• an environmental permit for category I and II facilities, or an environmental impact declaration for category III facilities, where treated wastewater is discharged into the environment; and
• timely and accurate operational control over water use.

Groundwater users will need approved groundwater reserves where abstraction exceeds 50 m³ per day, and if abstraction exceeds 1,000 m³ per day, they must also prepare a groundwater monitoring programme and a water abstraction project agreed with the competent authority. For surface water abstraction, fish protection and/or fish passage devices must be installed at the water intake facility.

It is important to note that, from 1 January 2027, applicants for a special water-use permit will need to submit a plan for reducing water losses and implementing “best available technologies” for a period of at least five years. “Best available technologies” are not defined as a closed list of equipment or mechanisms, but as performance-based criteria, so water users may choose the relevant technology provided it can demonstrate actual reduction of water losses.

Special water use without a permit may result in administrative liability under Article 141 of the Code of Administrative Offences dated 5 July 2014 [2] in the amount of 100 MCI (≈USD 900) for small business entities, 150 MCI (≈USD 1,350) for medium-sized business entities and 850 MCI (≈USD 7,500) for large businesses. In addition to fines, the right of special water use may be limited, suspended or terminated in cases of water shortage, risk of pollution or depletion, breach of environmental requirements, threat to public health or violation of permit conditions.

Sources:

1. Water Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 178-VIII dated 9 April 2025. https://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/K2500000178
2. Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Administrative Offences” No. 235-V dated 5 July 2014. https://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/K1400000235