Chu River
Encyclopedia
"Chui River" redirects here. For the South American Chuí or Chuy River, on the Brazil-Uruguay border and Brazil's southernmost point, see Chuí River. For the Nam Sam River or Chu River, on the Lao-Vietnam border, see Nam Sam River
Nam Sam River
Chu River or Nam Sam River is the largest tributary of Ma River. It originates from Houa peak at 2062 m near Sam Neua town, Houaphan Province in Eastern Laos and travels eastern to meander through Nghe An and Thanh Hoa Provinces of Vietnam...

.


The Chu (or Chui or Chuy) is a river in northern Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

 and southern Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

. At approximately 663 miles (1067 km) in length, it is one of the longest river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

s in Kyrgyzstan.

Chuy Oblast, the northernmost and most populous administrative region of Kyrgyzstan, is named after the river; so are the Chuy Avenue, the main street of Bishkek, and the city of Shu
Shu, Kazakhstan
Shu , formerly known as Chu , is a city in Jambyl Province of Kazakhstan, the administrative center of Shu District.The city is located on the river of the same name, and is populated by approximately 35,000 people.-Transportation:...

 in Kazakhstan's Zhambyl Province
Zhambyl Province
Jambyl Province is a province of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Taraz. The population of the province is 1,000,000; the city is 335,100. The province borders Kyrgyzstan, and is very near Uzbekistan. Jambyl also borders three other provinces: Karagandy Province, South Kazakhstan Province and Almaty...

.

Course

The Chu River is formed by the confluence of rivers Joon Aryk
Joon Aryk
The Joon Aryk is a river in Kochkor District of Naryn Province of Kyrgyzstan. It is formed by confluence of Kara-Kujur and Telek rivers. The length of the river is , basin area - 1340 square kilometers, and average annual discharge - 11.4 cubic meters per second. Chu River is formed by the...

 and Kochkor
Kochkor River
The Kochkor River is a river in Kochkor District of Naryn Province of Kyrgyzstan. It is formed by confluence of Karakol and Seok rivers. The length of the river is 45 km, basin area - 2590 square kilometers, and average annual discharge - 12.6 cubic meters per second. Chu River is formed by the...

 in Kochkor District
Kochkor District
Kochkor is a raion of Naryn Province in northern-central Kyrgyzstan. The capital lies at Kochkor.:-Populated places:In total, Kochkor District include 11 rural communities . Each rural community includes one or several villages...

 of Naryn Province
Naryn Province
Naryn Province is the largest province of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is Naryn. The province was established on November 21, 1939 as Tien-Shan Province. On December 20, 1962 the province was dissolved, but on December 11, 1970 re-established again...

. After approaching lake Issyk Kul
Issyk Kul
Issyk Kul is an endorheic lake in the northern Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the tenth largest lake in the world by volume and the second largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea. Although it is surrounded by snow-capped peaks, it never freezes; hence its name, which means "hot...

 within a few kilometers (near Balykchy
Balykchy
Balykchy is a town with a population about 40,000 people located at the western end of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, at and an elevation of about 1,900 metres...

), without either flowing into the lake or draining it, it turns to the northwest. After passing through the narrow Boom Gorge
Boom Gorge
Boom Gorge is an antecedent gorge in Chuy Province and Issyk-Kul Province of Kyrgyzstan. From the Russian spelling, the English pronunciation would be 'boh-ohm'....

 , it enters the comparatively flat Chuy Valley
Chuy Valley
The Chuy Valley is a large valley located in north Tian-Shan. It extends from Boom Gorge in the east to Moyun-Kum desert in the west. It borders Kyrgyz Ala-Too in the south, and Chu-Ili mountains in the north. Through Boom Gorge in the narrow east part Chuy Valley is linked with Issyk-Kul Valley...

, within which the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek
Bishkek
Bishkek , formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan.Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.The name is thought to...

 and the Kazakh city of Shu
Shu, Kazakhstan
Shu , formerly known as Chu , is a city in Jambyl Province of Kazakhstan, the administrative center of Shu District.The city is located on the river of the same name, and is populated by approximately 35,000 people.-Transportation:...

 are located. Much of the Chu's water is diverted into a network of canals to irrigate the fertile black soils of the Chuy Valley
Chuy Valley
The Chuy Valley is a large valley located in north Tian-Shan. It extends from Boom Gorge in the east to Moyun-Kum desert in the west. It borders Kyrgyz Ala-Too in the south, and Chu-Ili mountains in the north. Through Boom Gorge in the narrow east part Chuy Valley is linked with Issyk-Kul Valley...

 for farming, both on the Kyrgyz and Kazakh sides of the river.

As the Chu flows through the Chuy Valley
Chuy Valley
The Chuy Valley is a large valley located in north Tian-Shan. It extends from Boom Gorge in the east to Moyun-Kum desert in the west. It borders Kyrgyz Ala-Too in the south, and Chu-Ili mountains in the north. Through Boom Gorge in the narrow east part Chuy Valley is linked with Issyk-Kul Valley...

, it forms the border between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan for more than a hundred kilometers, but then it leaves Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

 and flows into Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

, where, like many other rivers and streams that drain northern Kyrgyzstan it eventually disappears in the steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...

, short of reaching the Syr Darya
Syr Darya
The Syr Darya , also transliterated Syrdarya or Sirdaryo, is a river in Central Asia, sometimes known as the Jaxartes or Yaxartes from its Ancient Greek name . The Greek name is derived from Old Persian, Yakhsha Arta , a reference to the color of the river's water...

, of which it would drain to during wet years.

History

The area of this river was originally home to the Iranian
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...

 Sughd
Sughd
Sughd Province is one of the four administrative divisions and one of the three provinces that make up Tajikistan. Centered in the historical Sogdiana, it is located in the northwest of the country, with an area of some 25,400 square kilometers and a population of 2,132,100 , up from 1,870,000...

s who spoke Soghdian, an East Iranian language.

During the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, the area was strategically important. It was the setting of Suayub, the capital of the Western Turkic Khaganate
Western Turkic Khaganate
The Western Turkic Khaganate was formed as a result of the internecine wars in the beginning of the 7th century after the Göktürk Khaganate had splintered into two politiesEastern and Western.The Western Turks initially sought friendly relations with the Byzantine Empire in order to expand their...

, and Balasagun
Balasagun
Balasagun was an ancient Soghdian city in modern-day Kyrgyzstan, located in the Chui River valley between Bishkek and Issyk-Kul Lake....

, the capital of the Kara-Khitans.

Chu River posed a risk of flooding for settlements located in Chu Valley. In winter 1878, an ice gorge formed on Chu River upstream town Tokmok
Tokmok
Tokmok ; , Tokmak) is a city of about 53,087 in northern Kyrgyzstan, east of the country's capital of Bishkek. Its geographical location is ; its altitude is 816 m above sea level. From 2004 until 19 April 2006 it served as the administrative seat of Chui Province...

 that was the center of Semirechye Province. This was followed by severe flooding that damaged the town and the center of the province was moved in Pishpek (Bishkek
Bishkek
Bishkek , formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan.Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.The name is thought to...

). After this, Tokmak gradually lost its significance.

Environmental monitoring

The Kyrgyz State Agency on Hydrometeorology and Kazakhstan Hydrometeorological Service (Kazhydromet) operate a number of water quality monitoring stations on the Chu River and its tributaries.

Water quality

According to Kyrgyz State Agency on Hydrometeorology, in 2004-2008, water pollution index of the Chu River in Chu Valley ranged from 0.25 to 0.7 units that is interpreted as Class II ("Clean water"). The only exception was a monitoring point downstream Vasilyevka village where water pollution index ranged from 0.4 to 1.2 unit and water quality was assessed as Class II(Clean)/Class III ("Moderately polluted").

According to Kazakhstan Hydrometeorological Service (Kazhydromet), water pollution index of Shu (Chu) River in Jambyl Province of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

 amounted to 2.01 (Class III, "Moderately polluted") in 2008, and 1.83 (Class III, "Moderately polluted") in 2009. Such water quality parameters as biochemical oxygen demand
Biochemical oxygen demand
Biochemical oxygen demand or B.O.D. is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to break down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over a specific time period. The term also refers to a chemical procedure for...

, nitrite
Nitrite
The nitrite ion has the chemical formula NO2−. The anion is symmetric with equal N-O bond lengths and a O-N-O bond angle of ca. 120°. On protonation the unstable weak acid nitrous acid is produced. Nitrite can be oxidised or reduced, with product somewhat dependent on the oxidizing/reducing agent...

s, copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

, phenols
Phenols
In organic chemistry, phenols, sometimes called phenolics, are a class of chemical compounds consisting of a hydroxyl group bonded directly to an aromatic hydrocarbon group...

 exceeded the maximum allowable concentrations.

Major tributaries

In Kyrgyzstan, 4892 rivers and canals flow into Chu River. The list of the major tributaries include:
  • Chong-Kemin River
    Chong-Kemin River
    The Chong-Kemin River is a river in Kemin District of Chuy Province of Kyrgyzstan. It is a right tributary of the Chu River in Boom Gorge.It has a length of 116 km with a basin area of 1890 km ².-Bibliography:...

  • Kichi-Kemin River
    Kichi-Kemin River
    The Kichi-Kemin River is a river in Kemin District of Chuy Province of Kyrgyzstan and Korday District of Kazakhstan. It is a right tributary of the Chu River in Chuy Valley. It has a length of 81 km with a basin area of 614 km ².-Course:...

  • Kara-Konuz River
  • Shamshy River
  • Ysyk-Ata River
    Ysyk-Ata River
    The Ysyk-Ata River is a river in Ysyk-Ata District of Chuy Province of Kyrgyzstan. It is a left tributory of Chu River. The length of the river is 81 km, watershed - 558 m2, weighted average elevation - 3030 m, annual average flow rate - 7.05 m3/s....

  • Alamudun River
  • Ala-Archa River
    Ala-Archa River
    The Ala-Archa River is a river in Alamudun District of Chuy Province of Kyrgyzstan. It is a left tributary of the Chu River in Chuy Valley.It has a length of 78 km with a basin area of 233 km ²....

  • Jylamysh River
  • Ak-Suu River
    Ak-Suu river
    The Ak-Suu or Aq-Suu is a river running though mostly Moskva district, Chuy Province, Kyrgyzstan. It takes its rise on the northern slope of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too, and it runs through the Narzan Valley north into the Chuy Valley and through the city of Belovodsk, which is named after it....

  • Kara-Balta River
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