Slashdot Mirror
Once Written Off for Dead, the Aral Sea Is Now Full of Life (nationalgeographic.com)
Years ago, the Aral Sea was the world's fourth-largest freshwater lake with an area of some 26,000 square miles. But in the 1950s, it became the victim of the Soviet Union's agricultural policies. Water from its two river sources -- the Amu Darya and Syr Darya -- was intentionally diverted for cotton cultivation. The Aral Sea began to disappear and nearly completely vanished. But things have changed for good. From a report: This rapid collapse over less than three decades -- which environmental scientists say is one of the planet's worst ecological disasters -- is marked today by the sea's reduced size. Its total area of water, straddling Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, is now a tenth of its original size. What's left has broken into two distinct bodies: the North and South Aral Seas. In Uzbekistan, the entire eastern basin of the South Aral Sea is completely desiccated, leaving merely a single strip of water in the west.
But Kazakhstan's North Aral Sea has seen a happier outcome, thanks to a nearly $86 million project financed in large part by the World Bank. Along with repairs to existing dikes around the basin to prevent spillage, an eight-mile dam was constructed just south of the Syr Darya River. Completed in the summer of 2005, this dam, named Kokaral, surpassed all expectations. It led to an 11-foot increase in water levels after just seven months -- a goal that scientists initially expected would take three years. This turnaround in the North Aral Sea's fate has meant that the fish stocks have returned to its waters, injecting new life into the local communities. Just as government policies had doomed the Aral Sea, careful planning and research helped revive at least part of it.
But Kazakhstan's North Aral Sea has seen a happier outcome, thanks to a nearly $86 million project financed in large part by the World Bank. Along with repairs to existing dikes around the basin to prevent spillage, an eight-mile dam was constructed just south of the Syr Darya River. Completed in the summer of 2005, this dam, named Kokaral, surpassed all expectations. It led to an 11-foot increase in water levels after just seven months -- a goal that scientists initially expected would take three years. This turnaround in the North Aral Sea's fate has meant that the fish stocks have returned to its waters, injecting new life into the local communities. Just as government policies had doomed the Aral Sea, careful planning and research helped revive at least part of it.
Also save Owens Lake in California! (see http://mentalfloss.com/article...)
Yes, the much more intelligent capitalists would never build huge cities with golf clubs, water shows and huge swimming pools in the frickin' desert, right?
Except looking at the Wikipedia page shows that in 1989 right before comunisim collapsed the Aral Sea was mostly intact but by 2014 it had mostly dried up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
So while Soviet era policies are the problem it didn't actually dry up during the existence of the USSR. In addition the Wikipedia page says it has been shrinking since at *LEAST* 1850
Though further reading of the article reveals that the irrigation channels leak like the buggery wasting anywhere between 30% and 75% of the water being used for irrigation. So perhaps all that is needed is to bring the irrigation channels up to scratch and the irrigation can continue and the sea will refill at least partially.
Reading a bit further shrinkage in the 1990's was basically all down to the Uzbek leader. Fortunately that particular despot died 18 months ago, and things tentatively look to be improving.
Finally the Soviets expected the sea to disappear.