In 1999, the British company JacobsGIBB Ltd (formerly GIBB Ltd) was hired to do an initial assessment of Lake Sarez and any potential threats it might pose to vulnerable communities along a 540 km stretch of the Bartang and Pyandzh rivers.

That assessment was followed up by the current Lake Sarez Risk Mitigation Project, coordinated by the World Bank and financed by SECO (Switzerland). Consultants (JacobsGIBB Ltd, Stucky and Bureau Technique Norbert) are helping the government of Tajikistan to implement an "early-warning system" to monitor Usoy Dam.

They are also carrying out studies of long-term engineering solutions that could prevent a catastrophe.