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The Story of The Aral Sea

The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest lake in the world, but has almost completely dried up due to irrigation and drought. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union diverted the two rivers flowing into the sea to irrigate cotton fields. By the 2010s, the eastern portion of the sea had completely dried, leaving a huge expanse of desert in its place. While a dam separated and partially restored the northern section, the southern part remains desiccated with high salt concentrations that prevent fish from surviving. Scientists and locals mourn the environmental destruction of what was once a thriving ecosystem and region.

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Cynthia Rosseau
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53 views2 pages

The Story of The Aral Sea

The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest lake in the world, but has almost completely dried up due to irrigation and drought. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union diverted the two rivers flowing into the sea to irrigate cotton fields. By the 2010s, the eastern portion of the sea had completely dried, leaving a huge expanse of desert in its place. While a dam separated and partially restored the northern section, the southern part remains desiccated with high salt concentrations that prevent fish from surviving. Scientists and locals mourn the environmental destruction of what was once a thriving ecosystem and region.

Uploaded by

Cynthia Rosseau
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Story of the Aral Sea

A message from  Life co-author, Helen Stephenson:


I remember reading about the Aral Sea a long time ago. I think it was one of the first stories about the
environment that affected me. Since I first read about it, the story of the Aral Sea has continued. These
three short news items from the National Geographic news page explain.

April 2010

One Sunday afternoon in Kazakhstan last August, a group of fishermen met for a celebration.
They were on the shore of the North Aral Sea. They brought food to eat, and they had races
and throwing contests. Afterwards, they relaxed, telling stories and singing songs about the
Aral Sea and fishing and how much they loved both of these things.

Once, the Aral Sea in Central Asia was the fourth largest lake in the world. However, it has
almost disappeared because of irrigation and drought. In 2005, the Kazakh government and
the World Bank built a dam that separated the northern and southern parts of the sea. The
northern part of the Aral Sea has started to recover. There are fish in the water and for the past
four years, fishermen have come to celebrate.

Philip Micklin is a scientist who has been studying the sea since the 1980s. ‘Nature can come
back.’ he says.

October 2014

Satellite images from this week show that the eastern part of the Aral Sea is completely dry. ‘It
is likely the first time it has completely dried up in 600 years,’ said expert Philip Micklin.

The Aral Sea once had an area of 67,300 square kilometres. Two of Central Asia's biggest
rivers, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, flowed into the Sea. This means that it was actually a
freshwater lake, not a seawater lake. But it was so big it was called a sea. The Aral Sea used
to be a busy place. Almost 20 percent of the Soviet Union’s fish came from here and 40,000
people used to work near the lake. As the lake dried up, it separated into different parts. The
eastern part nearly dried up in 2009 but it recovered in 2010 after some rain. Now, it’s
completely dry.

June 2015

Yusup Kamalov is a scientist from Uzbekistan.  I am standing with him looking at a huge
desert. Except that it’s not like any other desert – fifty years ago the southern shore of the Aral
Sea was right where we stand. Now it is 80 kilometres away to the northwest. We set off to
drive to the water. On the way, we pass oil and natural gas rigs standing on the sand.
According to Kamalov, each year there are a few more. ‘Can you imagine,’ he says, ‘that 40
years ago the water was 30 metres deep right here.’ We finally arrive at the edge of the lake,
which is so salty that no fish can live in it.

‘This is what the end of the world looks like,’ says Kamalov.

Glossary
dam (n) a wall to stop water flowing or moving
drought (n) a long period with no rain
freshwater (adj) containing water that does not have salt in it, like the water in rivers and lakes
irrigation (n) a system for taking water to crops
rig (n) a structure for getting oil or gas out of the ground
saltwater (adj) containing water that has salt in it, like the water in seas and oceans

Keywords: 
deep (adj) measuring a long way from the surface to the bottom in a river, sea etc.
desert (n) a large area of land where there is little rain and not many plants grow
dry up (phr-v) if a river or lake dries up, it becomes dry because water stops coming into it
flow (v) to move easily and smoothly in one direction
gas (n) a substance like air that is found under the ground and is used for cooking and heating
etc.
lake (n) a large area of water with land all around it
oil (n) the thick black liquid that is found under the ground and is used to make petrol
salty (adj) containing salt
sand (n) the substance usually found on beaches and in deserts that is made of very small
pieces of rock
shore (n) the land along the edge of a sea or lake

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