Taldykol Lake

Taldykol is a natural lake within Astana that, together with its smaller neighbor Malyi Taldykol, forms part of a wetland system that predates the modern capital and has been reshaped twice by rapid urban growth, first in the 1960s and again during the city's expansion in the 2010s. Over the decades it became a receiving basin for wastewater from the surrounding area, a legacy that left it in poorer ecological condition than other city lakes. City authorities have debated how to handle the site for years, with recent proposals calling for draining sections of the lake and replacing them with an engineered recreational lake of at least 20 hectares, part of a wider plan to integrate the water body into a landscaped eco-park alongside the Uly Dala avenue area. Public reaction to these redevelopment plans has been mixed, with some residents and ecologists arguing the projects have so far fallen short of expectations for restoring genuine wetland habitat.