Turkmenistan marks holiday "Drop of water - grain of gold".

4/4 Tass 8

ASHGABAT, April 4 (Itar-Tass) - Turkmenistan, 80 percent of whose
territory is occupied by the Karakum Desert, marks, according to a
tradition, the holiday "Drop of water - grain of gold" on the first Sunday
of April.
Mass festivities where workers of water conservancy are lauded and
show biz men perform, are staged on banks of rivers and lakes, near
fountains in parks and public gardens in Ashgabat and regional centres
this Sunday.
"'Drop of water - grain of gold' is a wise pronouncement of our
ancestors is bright evidence of venerable attitude of Turkmen people to
water, glorifying it as one of sacred things and as a source of all vital
blessings," says the holiday message by Turkmen President Gurbanguly
Berdymukhammedov.
On the eve of the holiday, the republic staged an international
scientific conference, devoted to implementation of a water-economic
project - the man-made lake of drainage waters "Altyn Asyr" (Golden Age)
in the centre of the Karakum Desert. Scholars from 20 countries
recognised the favourable influence of this lake on the ecological state
of the Central Asian region.
The international forum "World experience and advanced technologies of
efficient use of water resources", now in progress in Ashgabat these days,
is also devoted to the present holiday. It was pointed out at the forum
that Turkmenistan uses for irrigation 15 water reservoirs with a total
volume of 3,018 billion cubic metres.
The total length of irrigation system in the country is now 42,500,000
kilometres, while the length of the collector network tops 35,000
kilometres. Turkmenistan consumes daily, on average 1,642,900 cubic metres
of water. Drinking water is supplied free of charge, as is electricity and
gas. This right is recorded legislatively up to 2030.
-0-bur/usn