When water is scarce… The World Resource Institute published a ranking of countries suffering from water stress, where Uzbekistan took 25th place. Water scarcity in the country is assessed as high. According to research, the group of 27 countries experiencing high water shortages includes Afghanistan (27th place in the ranking), Italy (44), Kyrgyzstan (38), Portugal (41), Turkey (32). Of the rest of the Central Asian states, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan took 51st and 60th places, respectively, being located in the group of countries with high average water scarcity. Our neighbor Turkmenistan has become the least water-scarce country in the Central Asian region, taking 15th place in the ranking. The top five countries whose water deficit is assessed as critical include Qatar (1st place), Israel (2nd), Lebanon (3rd), Iran (4th) and Jordan (5th). Researchers offer a number of universal recommendations to reduce the consequences of water shortages: – increasing the efficiency of water use in agriculture: improving the irrigation system for watering fields, using seeds that do not require large volumes of water, investing in the research and development of more economical agricultural technologies; – water treatment plants and reservoirs will help stabilize seasonal fluctuations in water demand, the design and construction of which also require investments; – prospects for the secondary use of water. For example, in Washington, a water treatment plant receives biosolids (compost) when treating sewage water. In Uzbekistan, the condition of water treatment plants and reservoirs is not at the proper level, and the overall irrigation system is in a deplorable state. In addition, there are shortcomings in providing drinking water to the population. That’s why it’s so important to use water wisely and rationally.