Situated between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea is a body of water that has been disappearing steadily since the 1960’s. A victim of Soviet eco-engineering, the Aral Sea provides a picture of social, ecological and health effects of major changes to the environment. In the 1940’s, the Soviet Government took the equivalent of payday loans from the Aral Sea to water agriculture projects. Since the 1960’s, the Aral Sea water level has been consistently dropping.
History of Aral Sea changes
The Soviet government started building canals to divert up to 60 cubic km per year as part of the “Great Plan in advance for the Transformation of Nature”. Before these canals were built, the Aral Sea had an area of 68,000 square kilometers. The goal of this plan in advance was to irrigate desert cropland to grow crops like cereal, melons, cotton, and rice. As a result of this preparation, Uzbekistan is now a world-class cotton exporter.
Aral Sea shrinks constantly
Because the Soviet government saw agriculture as the best loans for people with bad credit, they diverted water from the Aral Sea. After twenty years of diversion, the Aral Sea started to lose major water volume. The disappearance of the Aral Sea was a combination of several factors. Agriculture diversions started causing significant water drops. Evaporation also caused a substantial drop within the Aral Sea. Lastly, a project intended to refill the Aral sea was abandoned in 1986. By 2004, the Aral Sea was less than one-quarter its original size.
Ecological and economic effects of the Aral Sea
The Aral Sea had been a center of both fishing and commerce for the area surrounding it. The fishing industry has since practically disappeared. The salinity of the Aral Sea has also skyrocketed, to the point the salt has destroyed crops in nearby areas. Because of industrial, chemical, and agricultural pollution that ran into the Aral Sea, the dirt and dust now blows into toxic dust storms. Some theorize that severe climate change within the area can also be blamed on the Aral Sea.
Restoring the Aral Sea
Many groups have been working on restoring at least some of the Aral Sea. The World Bank and UNESCO, as well as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have all put money towards Aral Sea restoration. Major projects have increased the sea depth by about 98 feet, though the likelihood that the Aral Sea will return to its former glory are minimal.
Sources:
AP News
Aral Sea Foundation
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