I was looking at Central Asia on Google Maps the other day when I came across the Aral Sea. So I decided to look into what the sea is all about. What I discovered, is that while the sea looked large on the antiquated map on Google, it is only a remnant of its former self at just one-quarter of its original surface area.
As early as the 1920’s the Soviet Union decided the two rivers that feed the Aral Sea would be diverted to irrigate the deserts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to allow the widespread production of cotton. The canals were completed in the 1940’s and just twenty years later the sea started its steady decline, taking with it one-sixth of the USSR’s fishing industry.
The collapse of the sea was no surprise to the Russians as they had anticipated it happening long before. Plans to build another canal system to restore the Aral Sea were shelved due to staggering costs and insufficient public support.
Today we find ourselves with an ecological disaster on the steppes. The lack of freshwater inflow to the lake has not only caused the water levels to recede but it has also caused salinity levels in the sea to spike thus destroying virtually all marine life.
Currently Kazakhstan is taking aggressive measures to restore water levels to the North Aral sea, including the construction of a dam between the North and South Aral Seas. While this has helped water levels rise in the north, it obviously has not helped the south much.
The South Aral Sea lies in the poorer Uzbekistan and has been largely abandoned to its fate. Uzbekistan has shown no willingness to part with its cotton industry, and has begun to search for mineral deposits on the dry seabed. The South Aral Sea is expected to completely vanish before the turn of the century.
