A large part of the aral sea once had a flourishing fishing trade, and now the fishing trade is all but a memory. The aral sea extends over 690,000km2 kirmani and lemoigne, 1997. Unemployment and economic hardship flooded in when the water dried up, and the rest of the aral sea region is contaminated and unhealthy for the public. The aral sea basin includes the syr darya and amu darya, the tedzhen known as hari rod. Other fish species were introduced in the 90s and there was also an attempt to introduce water to compensate salinity, but the efforts were in vain thompson, 2008. Latest satellite pictures reveal that 90% of the aral sea has dried up, forming a new desert between uzbekistan and kazakhstan in central asia.
The nations that inherited this calamity are desperately poor, and need the cash provided by the neardestruction of the lake. The aral sea, which was once a unique, beautiful and one of the largest closed water reservoirs in the world, is practically on the verge of complete disappearance and turned into an unprecedented disaster and irreparable damage to the life of the population living there, the ecosystem and biodiversity of the aral sea. Since 1960, the aral has undergone rapid desiccation and salinization, overwhelmingly the result of unsustainable expansion of irrigation that dried up its two tributary rivers. These images show the decline of the southern aral sea in the past decade, as well as the first steps of recovery in the northern aral sea. The 26,000 square miles of sea is now called aralkum or the aral sands locally. The aral sea in 1960 was a huge brackish water lake 4th in the world in surface area lying amidst the deserts of central asia.
Between 1960 and january 2006, the level of the small aral fell by m. Between 1960 and january 2006, the level of the small aral fell by m and the large aral fell by 23 m table 1. The aral sea management experience and lessons learned. A massive irrigation project has devastated the aral sea over the past 50 years. Aral sea one of the planets worst environmental disasters. The aral sea is the largest inland body of salty reservoirs in the world. Demands on the watershed for irrigation and other purposes have overdrawn water resources. The two rivers that feed it are the amu darya and syr darya rivers, respectively reaching the sea. The aral sea is situated in central asia, between the southern part of kazakhstan and northern uzbekistan. Water use in the aral sea basin water usage, primarily for drinking and irrigation, started more than 6,000 years ago. The aral sea disaster what is being done today and what can be learned central asian government has ceased making efforts to restore the aral sea due to the social and economic consequences that would occur because of the reduction in irrigation.
The aral sea drainage basin is located mainly in uzbekistan, but also in parts of tajikistan, turkmenistan, kyrgyzstan, kazakhstan and afghanistan. May 16, 2017 the aral sea, which was once a unique, beautiful and one of the largest closed water reservoirs in the world, is practically on the verge of complete disappearance and turned into an unprecedented disaster and irreparable damage to the life of the population living there, the ecosystem and biodiversity of the aral sea. The land surrounding the aral sea had become a large cotton producing area but in just 20 years the aral sea dropped its water levels by 20 meters. This timelapse movie shows its location and makes it appear as if it is shrinking as quickly as a puddle after a summer rain. The country that brought a sea back to life bbc future. The authors set the development of this tragedy in its historical and political context, and analyse the social and ecological causes and consequences of the decline of the sea, focusing in particular on the dependence of several central asian republics on. Individual frames show the lake in 1973, 1987, and 2000. The aral sea, once the worlds fourth biggest lake, is most likely gone forever, its death having brought about decades of environmental disaster. The south aral sea, which consist of a strip of water in the west and a driedout basin in the east, sits in uzbekistan. Manschadi and others published white gold and aral. The basin is formed by two of the largest rivers of central asia the amu darya and the syr darya. In the 20th century, and especially since 1960, the intensity of water use increased under the pressures. At that time in 1977, the aral sea was the fourth largest inland sea in the world. Water use efficiency of irrigated cotton in uzbekistan under drip and furrow.
Forty years ago the aral sea was bustling with fishermen and boats but now its almost completely disappeared. The icas was abolished in 1997 and merged its functions into a. Bbc news asiapacific dam project aims to save aral sea. A water management disaster in the soviet union article pdf available in science 2414870. Feb 25, 2015 latest satellite pictures reveal that 90% of the aral sea has dried up, forming a new desert between uzbekistan and kazakhstan in central asia.
The aral sea environmental health crisis phillip whishwilson introduction the aral sea was once the fourth largest inland body of water on earth with a surface area of 66,000 km2. Sea one of the worst environmental disasters in the world and asked regional leaders to. Started filling up 140,000 yrs ago, during the pleistocene epoch when the syr danya river began flowing in it. The sea is bordered by kazakhstan to the north and uzbekistan to the south. Situated between uzbekistan and kazakhstan, the aral was once the fourth largest lake on earth, as big as ireland. The aral sea transboundary river basin food and agriculture. Public health problems in the aral sea region wikipedia. Changes in the waterlevel and hydrological balance of the. The aral sea basin has three distinct ecological zones. Water and environmental management in the aral sea basin. The name roughly translates as sea of islands, referring to over 1,100 islands that had dotted its waters. Ddt and other chemicals were sprayed heavily and it then flowed into the aral sea. This work is in the public domain, cc0 the aral sea is a lake located east of the caspian sea between uzbekistan and kazakhstan in central asia. Exploreradventurer george kourounis visits the aral sea in western uzbekistan where wasteful irrigation practices by the former soviet union have drained most of the water, creating a vast.
Though it was once the fourth largest freshwater lake in the world, it has shrunk dramatically since 1960. Ppt the aral sea disaster powerpoint presentation free to. An ecological disaster cotton requires a lot of pesticides. A terminal lake having no outflow, its secular level is determined by the balance between river and groundwater inflow and precipitation on its surface on the one hand and evaporation from the sea on the other. Aug 12, 2012 exploreradventurer george kourounis visits the aral sea in western uzbekistan where wasteful irrigation practices by the former soviet union have drained most of the water, creating a vast. As the sea dries up the contaminants become exposed on the surface and enter into the soil while also being blown into the air. The north aral sea projects main initiative is the construction of a dam across the berg strait, a deep channel which connects the north aral sea to the south aral sea. A map of the aral sea watershed the aral sea divided into two water bodies in 1987, the north aral sea and the south aral sea, with syr darya flowing into the former and amu darya flowing into the latter. The paper provides a brief summary and personal responseviews about philip micklins paper on the aral sea disaster as part of the academic curriculum. Have students research the current size of the aral sea and the great lakes and compare their values with those stated in these lessons. The aral sea hydrological budget and its waterlevel are largely determined by the inflow of two central asian rivers, the amu darya and sry darya, and thus on both climate induced changes and ever increasing anthropogenic impacts, that is, irreversible losses from irrigated agriculture. In the beginning, the soviet union simply did not care, and the aral sea was one of many soviet projects with the stated goal of taming nature.
While in 2007, its area was only about one third of 50 years ago and the water. Aral sea 64,500 km2 facts about the aral sea disaster. Establish aral sea as unesco world heritage site would mandate partial restoration and bring about sustained international support develop a better understanding of these systems and the effects of our actions upon them. These environmental impacts have had wideranging effects on health of local residents. The aral sea is located amid the great deserts of central asia figure 1. Apr 14, 2017 also, with the water vanishing, the russian oil company lukoil found a silver lining in the disaster, setting out in 2006 to explore for oil and gas on the bottom of the aral sea in the uzbek sector.
The uzbek side of the aral sea has turned to desert credit. The aral sea used to be the fourth largest lake in the world, after the caspian sea, lake superior and lake victoria. Conflict over water in the aral sea ecc platform library. Combining modern soil salinity monitoring devices, such as the electromagnetic. Nov 15, 2017 the aral sea in central asia is drying up. Situated in the centre of the central asian deserts at an altitude of 53 metres above the sea level, the aral sea functions as a gigantic evaporator. By 1991 almost all river water was being diverted for. The aral separated into two water bodies in 198789. Check the aral sea map showing the shrinkage over the last decades. Around the southern edge of the aral sea is the karakalpakstan republic, an autonomous republic incorporated into uzbekistan. Three british scientists have just come back from a visit to the lake that straddles the former soviet republics of kazakhstan and uzbekistan. Aral sea basin program world bank documents world bank group. The aral sea disaster was caused by human mismanagement of a natural resource.
In the first half of the 20th century the aral sea was the worlds fourthlargest inland saline body of water, with an area of 68 000 sq. Also, with the water vanishing, the russian oil company lukoil found a silver lining in the disaster, setting out in 2006 to explore for oil and gas on the bottom of the aral sea in the uzbek sector. Aral sea was the fourth largest lake in the world before 1960s, with an area of more than 68,000 km 2 micklin 2007. After realizing the severe ecological and human impacts of the disaster of the desiccation of the aral sea, the world bank coordinated a 85 million dollar project with kazakhstan to rebuild many miles of the the irrigation canals as well as building an efficiently working dam at the southern border along the northern basin of the lake using up. The kokaral dam is kilometres 8 miles long and has capacity for over 29 cubic kilometres of water to be stored in the north aral sea, whilst allowing excess to overflow. Since the 1960s, however, when soviet irrigation projects diverted several of its source waterways, the aral has shrunk 90%. In the mid20 th century the lake was ranked as the fourth largest.
Creeping environmental problems and sustainable development in the aral sea basin. The fresh water from these two rivers held the arals water and salt levels in perfect balance. Combining this flow with an average precipitation of 9 km3 per year implied. It was fed by two rivers that flowed down from the. For decades now the aral sea technically a lake, bordered by kazakhstan and uzbekistan, and once, at 26,000 square miles, the fourth largest on the planet has been slowly dying. Around 35 million individuals live near the aral sea. In the early 1960s, the soviet central government decided to make the ussr selfsufficient in cotton and rice. The aral sea basin includes uzbekistan, tajikstan, and parts of kazakstan, kyrgystan, and turkmenistan.
The aral sea the aral sea was once the 5th largest lake on earth. Problems of the aral sea and water resources of central asia. Shrinking of the aral sea timeline timetoast timelines. Water and environmental management in the aral sea. The source of the amu darya is largely in tajikistan, with a few watercoursesoriginatingin northeasternafghanistan. The aral sea is a huge, shallow, saline body of water located in the deserts of the southcentral soviet union figs. Hemispheres the international outreach consortium at the university of texas at. The aral sea basin is considered a disaster zone by many. The royal geographical society has unveiled evidence that the devastated region around the aral sea in central asia is the worlds worst ecological disaster. The aral is an inland saltwater sea with no outlet. Up until the third quarter of the 20th century it was the world. The sea supported a major fishery and functioned as a key regional transportation route. Conflict summary environmental degradation of the aral sea in central asia has.
National geographic lesson what happened to the aral sea. Aral sea and avoid similar, looming disasters in other regions. The aral sea is located between kazakhstan and uzbekistan and was once the fourth largest lake in the world. The aral sea is half the size of england and supllies uzbekistan, kazakhstan, and other central asian countries water to grow cotton and other export crops, and to supply people with drinking water. However, a project to salvage its northern part appears to have succeeded as commercial fishing is once again viable in. The aral sea aral is a terminal salt lake in western central asia situated at the border between uzbekistan and kazakhstan. The kok aral dam is kilometres 8 miles long and has capacity for over 29 cubic kilometres of water to be stored in the north aral sea, whilst allowing excess to overflow. The fresh water from these two rivers held the aral s water and salt levels in perfect balance.
Approximately 10,000 years ago, at the beginning of the holocene, the aral sea attained its great size when the amu darya river start flowing into it. Jun 03, 2015 the aral is an inland saltwater sea with no outlet. The aral sea going, going, gone a comparison of the aral sea in 1989 left and 2014 right. Pdf white gold and aral sea disaster towards more efficient. Since the early 1960s, the level of the aral sea has declined sharply and today it is an ecological nightmare and socioeconomic tragedy.
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