Southern Kazakhstan, particularly the Zhambyl Region, is facing increasing groundwater stress due to climate change, degradation of irrigation infrastructure, and unsustainable water use. Despite substantial renewable groundwater reserves (8.33 km³/year), irrigation still relies on ephemeral surface flow. This study delineates priority zones for Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) using a GIS-based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis framework integrated with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Nine hydrogeological criteria were incorporated: shallow aquifer depth, groundwater salinity, precipitation, terrain slope, soil texture, land use/land cover, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), drainage density, and lineament density. Each parameter was normalized to a five-class suitability scale and weighted through expert-informed pairwise comparisons. The MAR suitability map identifies about 19% of the region (27,060 km²) as highly favorable for implementation. Field investigations at eleven groundwater sites in 2024 corroborate model results, providing aquifer depth, quality, and infiltration data. The most suitable areas are concentrated on Quaternary alluvial–proluvial fans near the Kyrgyz Alatau foothills and the Talas-Assa interfluve. Three hydrostratigraphic settings were identified: unconfined alluvial aquifers, Neogene–Quaternary unconsolidated sediments, and fractured Carboniferous carbonates. Recommended MAR methods include infiltration galleries, check dams, and injection wells. The proposed approach, validated through consistency analysis (Consistency Ratio ≤ 0.1), demonstrates the applicability of integrated geospatial and field methods for site-specific MAR planning. Strategic MAR deployment could restore productivity to 37,500 ha of degraded irrigated lands and improve groundwater resilience. These findings provide a practical framework for policymakers and water management authorities to optimize groundwater use and enhance agricultural sustainability under changing climatic conditions.

Western Kazakhstan is susceptible to desertification, with surface water resource scarcity constraining agricultural development. Groundwater has substantial potential as a reliable and secure alternative to other water resources, particularly for irrigation, which is required to ensure food security. Eight aquifer segments with an exploitable potential of 0.24 km³/year have been identified for the integrated assessment of groundwater’s suitability for irrigation. The assessment criteria included hydro-chemical groundwater characteristics and irrigated land soil-reclamation conditions. The primary objectives of this study were to assess the groundwater quality for irrigation and to develop a practical operation scheme for rational groundwater use in water-saving irrigation technologies and optimize agricultural crop cultivation. Approximately 90% of the groundwater in these aquifer segments was found to be suitable for irrigation, with a total amount of 6520 thousand m³/day and a salinity of up to 1 g/L, and an additional 12,971 thousand m³/day had a water salinity of up to 3 g/L. Only approximately 10% had TDS values above 3 g/L and up to 6.5 g/L, categorized as conditionally suitable for restricted customized agricultural crop irrigation. Irrigated land development by complex soil desalination agro-reclamation operations enabled the use of brackish water for irrigation. The integrated analysis allowed the development of drip irrigation and sprinkling system irrigation schemes that gradually replaced wasteful surface irrigation. The irrigated land prospective area recommended for groundwater irrigation development is 653 km², with the further restructuring of cultivated areas, reducing the number of annual grasses and grain crops and increasing the number of vegetables, potatoes, and perennial grasses.

Sustainable potable groundwater supply is crucial for human development and the preservation of natural habitats. The largest endorheic inland lake in Kazakhstan, Balkhash Lake, is the main water resource for the arid southeastern part of the country. Several ore enrichment plants that are located along its shore have heavy metal pollution potential. The study area is located around a plant that has an evident anthropogenic impact on the Balkhash Lake aquatic ecological system, with ten known heavy metal toxic hotspots endangering fragile habitats, including some indigenous human communities. This study assessed the risk of heavy metal contamination from tailing dump operations, storage ponds, and related facilities and suggested management practices for preventing this risk. The coastal zone risk assessment analysis used an innovative integrated groundwater numerical flow and transport model that predicted the spread of groundwater contamination from tailing dump operations under several mitigation strategies. Heavy metal pollution prevention models included a no-action scenario, a filtration barrier construction scenario, and two scenarios involving the drilling of drainage wells between the pollution sources and the lake. The scenario assessment indicates that drilling ten drainage wells down to the bedrock between the existing drainage channel and the lake is the optimal engineering solution for confining pollution. Under these conditions, pollution from tailings will not reach Lake Balkhash during the forecast period. The methods and tools used in this study to enable mining activity without environmental implications for the region can be applied to sites with similar anthropogenic influences worldwide.

Due to geographical limitations (lack of natural receivers of treated wastewater) large sewage storage ponds are the main method of sewage disposal in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The paper presents the results of research on the environmental impact of sewage ponds serving the city of Kostanay (Kazakhstan). The scope of the research included the determination of basic quality parameters of raw and treated wastewater, the analysis of the chemical composition of groundwater in the vicinity of sewage ponds, and the analysis of the water quality of the Tobol River. The obtained results showed that efficiency of treatment facilities was unsatisfactory and water quality in the ponds did not meet requirements for surface waters for fishery. Highest contamination of groundwater was observed in sampling points close to the sewage ponds and was decreasing while the distance from the ponds was increasing. Multivariate analysis of the research data indicated that sewage from storage ponds, infiltrating into the ground, may affect quality of groundwater, which in turn supplying the Tobol River may also determine the quality of the river water.

Groundwater is the primary source of livestock watering across the arid pasturelands of western Kazakhstan, yet no systematic field hydrochemical assessment has been published for this region in over 40 years. This study presents the first systematic field-based hydrochemical characterisation of groundwater sources used for pasture livestock watering in the West Kazakhstan Region and Aktobe Region, filling a critical data gap that has persisted since the Soviet era. Specifically, it characterises the hydrochemistry, water quality, and infrastructure condition of groundwater sources, and evaluates the groundwater resource potential against current and projected livestock water demand. A total of 139 groundwater samples were collected along 11,182 km of field routes during May–July 2025, and analysed for 25 physicochemical parameters; hydrochemical classification was performed using AquaChem 11, and spatial analysis was conducted in ArcGIS 10.8. The groundwater chemistry distribution is bimodal: fresh bicarbonate-calcium-magnesium waters (TDS < 3.0 g/L) constitute approximately 80% of samples, while highly mineralised chloride-sulphate-sodium waters (TDS up to 9.91 g/L) occur in salt-dome-influenced discharge zones. Nitrate concentrations exceeded 50 mg/L in 23–36% of samples, with maxima of 635 mg/L, reflecting intensive anthropogenic contamination near livestock facilities. Predictive exploitable fresh groundwater resources exceed current livestock demand by a factor of 162. The principal constraint on pasture water supply is not resource scarcity but the non-operational status of 51–75% of inspected watering infrastructure, a legacy of post-Soviet institutional collapse that requires urgent rehabilitation.