Kichi-Kemin River

The Kichi-Kemin River (Template:Lang-ky) 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 is Template:Convert long with a basin area of Template:Convert. The flow of the Kichi-Kemin River considerably varies; the minimum flow is Template:Convert in February, and the maximum is Template:Convert in July.<ref name=encyc />

Course

The source of Kichi-Kemin River is high in the shoots of Trans-Ili Alatau in Kyrgyzstan. For about Template:Convert the river flows to the north and than to the west along the Kyrgyzstan–Kazakhstan border from an elevation of about Template:Convert to Template:Convert. The river passes through urban-type settlement Ak-Tuz and flows to the southwest in a narrow gorge. Further, it passes through village Imeni Il'icha and enters Kichi-Kemin Valley. The Kichi-Kemin River turns west and passes near villages Kichi-Kemin, Boroldoy, and Beysheke. It flows parallel to the Chu River at a distance of Template:Convert and crosses the Kyrgyzstan–Kazakhstan border. In Kazakhstan, in passes near villages Karasay batyr and Enbek gradually approaching the Chu River, and flowing into it near Chim-Kurgan.

Ecology and environment

Contamination

In 1964, mudflows damaged tailings pond No.2 in the vicinity of the Kichi-Kemin River, and Template:Convert of radioactive tailings contaminated the river and lower part of Kichi-Kemin Valley with thorium, lead, copper, zinc, beryllium and other heavy metals.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Environmental monitoring

The Kyrgyz State Agency on Hydrometeorology runs two water-quality monitoring stations on the Kichi-Kemin River: one of them is Template:Convert upstream and another is Template:Convert downstream of Ak-Tuz.<ref name="envmonitoring">Template:Cite web</ref>