the aral sea is disappearing...

[Mike70]

this is probably one of the greatest environmental disasters in human history. the aral sea (kazakstan & uzbekistan), once the 4th largest lake in the world, has lost 90% of its area since 1960. the soviets, in their minute wisdom, decided to divert the two main rivers that fed the aral sea to irrigate cotton fields. the volume of water that the aral sea has lost is equal to draining lake ontario and lake erie dry. the result has been a calamity on an epic scale.

the aral sea in 1985:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Aral_sea_1985_from_STS.jpg

the aral sea in 2009:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Aral_Sea_Continues_to_Shrink%2C_August_2009.jpg/600px-Aral_Sea_Continues_to_Shrink%2C_August_2009.jpg




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

[krakenslayer]

Tragedy :(

[SymphonicX]

When does irrigation ever work???

I mean it feels like common sense that theres a finite amount of water in any given lake or river or ocean - surely if you take that water and direct it elsewhere it's not magically going to replenish, if it was constantly flowing inwards it would have overflowed long before humans touched it - it's stopped, so if irrigated it just disappears....I mean it just feels obvious to me....

Same thing happened in Nepal and Pakistan and places like that, they irrigate massive bodies of water which not only causes people to migrate to previously uninhabitable places, but also uses up the natural resource very quickly leaving entire populations literally high and dry!!

[MikePizzoff]

Holy shit, that was a huge body of water. The dumbass' that came up with the irrigation system probably thought the lake/sea was fed by an underground spring (a la sand quarries). Or they just didn't care about the future...

[Tricky]

Is that sea salt water? surely it would have been no good for irrigation anyway unless they took the salt out first? :confused:

[Rancid Carcass]

Unless there is some geological reason preventing them from doing so, why don't they just re-direct the rivers back. Problem solved! Or is that just too simple?

[MikePizzoff]

Unless there is some geological reason preventing them from doing so, why don't they just re-direct the rivers back. Problem solved! Or is that just too simple?

The reason is simple - the irrigation was used for cotton fields. The cotton plants drank all of the water. It's gone forever.

[AcesandEights]

The reason is simple - the irrigation was used for cotton fields. The cotton plants drank all of the water. It's gone forever.

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk74/darthbella/i-drink-your-milkshake.png

I actually don't believe that water is gone forever, though, right? I mean it's just transferred to another location in the hydrosphere, no? Mike, can I get a ruling on this? I know you know about this shit :) What are the prospects of rehabbing the sea? Not to it's full potential, but at least a healthier shadow of its former self?

[krakenslayer]

Is that sea salt water? surely it would have been no good for irrigation anyway unless they took the salt out first? :confused:

It was the rivers flowing into the Aral Sea, that were diverted for irrigation, not the sea/lake itself. The water flowing through those rivers is fresh water, which only becomes salinated by the geology of the area inside the Aral Basin.

[SRP76]

The reason is simple - the irrigation was used for cotton fields. The cotton plants drank all of the water. It's gone forever.

It didn't say the rivers were gone. Just the lake they dumped into. So if the rivers still exist, the water's there to re-divert.

[blind2d]

Why would people just sit around and let this happen? I mean... really. Tiny sea... might be good subject matter for a song.

[Mike70]

I actually don't believe that water is gone forever, though, right? I mean it's just transferred to another location in the hydrosphere, no? Mike, can I get a ruling on this? I know you know about this shit :) What are the prospects of rehabbing the sea? Not to it's full potential, but at least a healthier shadow of its former self?

there is an effort under way to save the northern remnant. a dam was built a few years ago and since then the level of the northern section has actually risen.

the southern section is a goner however. it has been so fucked up for so long that short of diverting the rivers back (which would destroy the cotton industry in uzbekistan), there isn't anything that can be done for it.

here's a vid taken at what used to be moynaq, uzbekistan. it was once one of the largest fishing ports in the soviet union.

wG_TzYNcgyU

another vid of ships lying on the dry sea bed.
2hu0Hr9eS_g

[krakenslayer]

Aral means islands in the local language, so the name roughly translates to Sea of Islands, in reference to the hundreds that once dotted its surface. Turns out that the Soviets used at least one of these islands (back when it was safely cut off by the sea) as a development centre of-, and a dumping ground for, biological weapons. This, in conjunction with the natural, normally dilute, toxins condensed and deposited on the dry sea bed by the retreating sea, may be the cause of widespread health problems in the remaining population of the area:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea#Bioweapons_facility_on_Vozrozhdeniya_Isla nd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vozrozhdeniya_Island

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral

[LouCipherr]

The dumbass' that came up with the irrigation system probably thought the lake/sea was fed by an underground spring (a la sand quarries).

Irrigation system?! Get out of here, it's 'cause of GLOBAL WARMING! Go ask Al, he'll tell ya. Pretty soon we'll see pictures of polar bears on ice from that lake! :lol:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e104/LouCipherr/global%20warming/PolarBear.gif

(sorry, couldn't resist :D)

[Mr.G]

Ugh, I'm not a bleeding heart but the videos make me feel horrible. How could anyone do that to a natural resource?

[Legion2213]

Any way we can blame Bush for this?

Seriously though...even as somebody who usually shuts off the minute that "climate" is mentioned...that is some serious enviromental destruction, no two ways about it. :(

[Mike70]

Any way we can blame Bush for this?

Seriously though...even as somebody who usually shuts off the minute that "climate" is mentioned...that is some serious enviromental destruction, no two ways about it. :(

to allay your fears - this has nothing to do with climate changes and everything to do with the greed and stupidity of the soviets. they diverted the rivers to grow cotton and the sea died. it is a simple progression.

in answer to some of the other comments in the thread:

the soviets KNEW this would happen and they just didn't care. i mean what are tens of thousands of jobs in the fishing industry, the millions of fish killed, the lost of fresh water for people to drink, the pollution, the health of thousands and the desertification of thousands of square miles compared to one of their grand five-year plans?