Аннотация
The principles of water management were developed based on the analysis of the water management situation in Balkash – Alakol water district. The analysis of modern degradation of ecological systems shows that this process is a direct result of timely forecast assessments and foresight of possible consequences of decisions taken at the stage of developing schemes for integrated use and protection of water resources for separate river basins of Kazakhstan. In water-scarce river basins, the further development of water management and, accordingly, the development of economic sectors require matching the available water resources and demand for them. Thus, ideally, it is necessary to coordinate the possibility of taking water from the environment of a certain amount of natural, including water resources, with the self-recovering ability of the environment. Due to anthropogenic activity and a sharp increase in water consumption in the upper reaches of Ile River, tense water management and ecological situation has already developed in the Balkash-Alakolskiy water basin, in which the unique Balkash lake can share the same fate as Aral Sea. The planned medium and long-term measures for development of irrigated agriculture in the territories of Zhetysu and Almaty regions result in additional excessive burden on natural environment in the region. Possible comprehensive measures are proposed to solve the strategic task of water (socio-ecological and economically optimal) management in Balkash-Alakol water basin, taking into account the preservation of Balkash Lake.