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MYSTERY of the DISAPPEARING SEA?. These images show the Aral Sea, which is divided between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
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These images show the Aral Sea, which is divided between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
For more than 30 years, water has been diverted from the Amu-Darya and the Syr-Darya Rivers feeding the Aral, to irrigate millions of acres of land for cotton and rice production in Central Asia.
This has caused a loss of more than 60% of the lake's water.
The lake has shrunk from over 65,000 sq km to less than half that size, exposing large areas of the lake bed.
From 1973 to 1987the Aral dropped from fourth to sixth among the world's largest lakes.
The local climate has reportedly shifted, with hotter, drier summers and colder, longer winters.
Dust storms have blown up to 75,000 tons of this exposed soil annually, dispersing its salt particles and pesticide residues.
This air pollution has caused widespread nutritional and respiratory ailments. An estimated 75 million tons of salts and toxic dusts have been spread across Central Asia
Crop yields have been diminished by the added salinity, even in some of the same fields irrigated with the diverted water.
The lake's salt concentration increased from 10% to more than 23%, contributing to the devastation of a once thriving fishery.
In 1997, the local government in the town of Aralsk took matters into its own hands. It deployed earth-moving equipment to scoop sand from the seabed and build a dike 12 miles long.
Birds reappeared, including gulls, swans, and pheasants. Danish scientists analyzed fresh sole from its waters and were amazed to find them clean enough to eat.
The World Bank is considering funding to make the dike a permanent fixture. The United Nations and European donors have granted more than $1 million dollars to help clean the lakeside area and revive traditional livestock and fishing.
