Precipitation is a component of the hydrological cycle, knowing its spatial distribution is vital for the management of hydrographic basins, the territory and the development of fundamental activities for society. That is why the present study shows the spatial variability of rainfall in Cartagena de Indias city with a network of rain gauges, made up of nine pieces of equipment, separated from each other by 0.9–27 km. After a year of recording (2019), using historical series of data, it was found that the maximum rainfall occurs in the trimester between September and November, with interpolated maps made by the Ordinary Kriging (OK) method it was found that the maximum rainfall is focused on the north, centre and west of the territory, instead, the maximum intensities are presented in the centre and west, the minimums for both variables are presented to the east and south. The 70 and 90% of the rain events have a duration of less than 30 min and 1 h, respectively. Three-parameter exponential function was fitted to the paired correlation distances, and presented correlations lower than 0.8, 0.5 and 0.2 from distances of 1, 3 and 7 km, respectively, in 30 min rain integration. It was also found that with a pluviometric network conformed by at least six pieces of equipment and separated by a 5 km distance from each other in the urban area, a correlation of 0.5 and compliance with the WMO recommendations would be obtained.

The exceptionally high spatial-temporal variability of the river runoff and the significance of its transboundary component considerably worsen the problem of the water supply of the republic. Due to the disadvantageous geographical location in the lower reaches of transboundary river basins, the Republic of Kazakhstan is largely dependent on water economy activities taking place in neighbouring countries. In the article the modern change of the resources of river runoff in Kazakhstan, taking into account climatic and anthropogenic influences is considered. For the assessment of the impact of economic activities on the river runoff and changes in climatic-related runoff, the complex of integral methods was used, and appropriate methodologies were developed. The obtained results of the modern influence of a complex of factors, as well as their significance for the future (till 2030), can be used for the development of scientifically based solutions for sustainable management and protection of water resources. An assessment of the anthropogenic activity of this study shows that the water resources of the river runoff of the Republic of Kazakhstan have decreased by 16.0 km ³∙y ^–1. According to our forecasts, there will be a further decrease in the water resources of the republic due to the expected decrease in transboundary flow to 87.1 km ³∙y ^–1 by 2030, in dry years less than 50.0 km ³∙y ^–1. We propose a set of measures to prevent the negative impact of possible reduction of river runoff resources in the future in the water basins of Kazakhstan.