ARAL SEA

Once being the 4th largest lake in the world Aral is now a dying sea. The biggest and the most striking ecological catastrophy of the past century. Nowadays the sea is divided into 4 lakes: Southern Aral Sea, western and eastern basins of Northern Aral sea and a small lake between Northern and Southern Aral seas. The only part that has some tiny perspectives for the future is the smallest Southern Aral sea. This territory lies in Kazakhstan, and they try to preserve what is left in the smaller part of the Sea. After the construction of the dam in the beginning of the 21 century which blocked the outflow from the Southern Aral Sea, it started to recover. The level of water increased while the salinity went down. As a result increased the population of fish and nowadays there is even some sturgeon in the Sea. The Southern sea gains its territory little by little coming back to the shores of Aralsk. The ecological situation is also getting a bit better in the area.
 

But the situation is completely different in other parts of the Aral Sea. What was once the sea is now a salty sandy desert. Strong wings blow salt and sand all over polluting the atmosphere and land on many kilometers around. Once a prosperous region declined completely, many villages are abandoned, and those which are not yet suffer from poverty and unemployment. While driving along the former seabed desert one will see rusty destroyed ships left when the sea was rapidly disappearing.
 

The Aral Sea started to disappear in 1960-s when Amudarya and Syrdarya started to supply water for the agricultural needs. As a result today the water from the rivers sometimes never get to the sea at all getting lost somewhere in the sands. According to economical investigations the income from the agriculture is several times more than the income from the fishing industry which was very well developed in the Aral Sea. But from the point of ecology this situation is a disaster.
 

Once the Sea left on the bottom there were found 2 ancient mausoleums and remains of the village. Thus appeared an opinion that decrease of the Aral Sea level is periodical.
 

Gas fields were found on the former seabed of the Aral sea. The fields are being actively developed and gas derricks are seen all over the salty dessert. In Uzbekistan there is no tendency to make the Sea return to its original state. Scientists claim that even if both Amudarya and Syrdaria will be turned back to the Aral, the sea will return to its size only in at least 200 years. What is done is a continuous attempt to preserve what is left from the Sea. Another problem are salty sandy storms, to prevent them and make the earth stronger haloxylon is being planted along the desert.