Part of the Aral Sea Dries Up: Biggest Environmental Disaster in Human History
Part of Aral Sea Dries Up: Biggest Environmental Disaster in Human History
It took millions of years for the Aral Sea to form, and just a few decades to divest it of water.
Formerly a gigantic lake straddling Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the ocean-sized body of water is well on its way to disappearing. In fact one section has completely dried up since 2000, the space agencys Earth Observatory said on September 26.
Once the fourth largest lake in the world, Aral was replenished by rivers funneling snow melt, and they supported a thriving economy based on fisheries, reported the Washington Post . But once the two rivers that fed it, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, were dammed up, no water could get in. Further, the lake was drained by irrigation projects, its water destined for crops being grown in the deserts of Kazhakstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, Time magazine reported. Millions of gallons were siphoned off for cotton fields and rice paddies, according to NASA.
Beginning in the 1960s, farmers and state offices in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Central Asian states opened significant diversions from the rivers that supply water to the lake, thus siphoning off millions of gallons to irrigate cotton fields and rice paddies, said NASA. As recently as 1965, the Aral Sea received about 50 cubic kilometers of fresh water per yeara number that fell to zero by the early 1980s. Consequently, concentrations of salts and minerals began to rise in the shrinking body of water. That change in chemistry has led to staggering alterations in the lake's ecology, causing precipitous drops in the Aral Seas fish population.
Although at one point part of the lake appeared to rebound, overall it has shrunk markedly, and steadily, since the 1960s. When NASAs satellite photos picked up the shrinking process in 2000, the water line was already much removed from its former position, and the lake was already a fraction of its 1960 extent, NASA said.
By 2000, the Northern Aral Sea was completely separate from the Southern Aral Sea, NASA said, and the southern portion in turn had become two lobes, eastern and western, that remained tenuously connected at both ends.
In 2009, desperate to save at least some of the lake, the authorities in Kazakhstan decided to amputate, adding a dam between the northern and southern parts. Water levels in the southern portions eastern lobe bounced around between 2009 and 2014, depending on how wet or dry the year was, NASA said. But this year the dry won out. By the time these photos were taken on August 19, 2014, the eastern lobe of this once 26,000-square-mile lake was no more.
"This is the first time the eastern basin has completely dried in modern times," said Philip Micklin, a geographer emeritus from Western Michigan University and an Aral Sea expert, in a NASA statement. "And it is likely the first time it has completely dried in 600 years, since Medieval desiccation associated with diversion of Amu Darya to the Caspian Sea."
It might behoove those who disagree that human activity could be irrevocably changing our environment, and not to our benefit, to check out NASAs web page on the Shrinking Aral Sea .
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/10/01/part-aral-sea-dries-biggest-environmental-disaster-human-history-157145
Human intervention can, and does, cause huge changes on our planet.
Water, not oil, is the war of the future...
Miss, there was a book written in the late 80's early 90's that addressed that exact scenario. I can't remember off hand the title of the book, but it really laid out how and why it will happen.
The worst part about it is the places where the water is running out are the very places where conflict is already destroying societies. I am in the shipping business and export mobile drill rigs globally. Not for oil, but for water drilling. Most go to the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. The most common destination has been Yemen, the country predicted to be the first to completely run out of fresh drinking water. On top of being involved in regular civil wars since the '70s, they are now the base for Al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Much of the country's villages only supply of water comes in tanker trucks on a bi-weekly basis. The villagers converge with jugs and containers to get their fresh water and that's it until the next delivery.
Mike, one only has to look at your home state. The water crisis is here, and has been for quite some time.
Lake Mead, which supplies 95% of water for the Las Vegas valley is down 120 feet from normal.
Does APL sound familiar to you.
We can live without oil, but we can't live without water BF.
BF is in shallow water.
A sea dries up! I would rank that at or near the top on the disaster list.
The Aral Sea is actually a lake
A man-made disaster!
Perhaps it's because we've lost 20,000 plussquare miles of fresh water, due to human intervention Cerenkov.
Really dry in many places in the West flame.
They'll start thinking about it when they don't have fresh water, or the cost of water is more than they can afford JR.
Cerenkov, think of it this way. It's just slightly smaller than Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes. Three times larger than Lake Erie.
If any one of those lakes went the way of Aral Sea, everyone would be in a panic. I don't see hyperbole in this article at all.
Very concerning!!
:~|
Not muchcan survive without water....sigh..
Great video Larry, thanks for posting it.
No human can survive without it Nona.
That's for sure !
There are small rural towns in CA. that have run out of water. It's a big problem right here in the US.
Is this the book you are thinking about, Kavika? "Water Wars", written by Marq de Villiers, a client of mine when I was practising law.
He also wrote this one, basically a study of the disappearing water situation, prior to writing the water wars book.
Yes Buzz, those are the ones. Thanks for finding them.
I have the original Water book in storage in Toronto - personally signed with a greeting to me by the author at the book introduction event. He and his wife Sheila (who herself is an excellent writer and collaborates on his works) were friends, until they moved to the Maritime Provinces.
Detroit Judge Rules There Is No Basic Human Right to Water .
Beware water privatization.
Excellent Buzz, the books were very interesting.
I can see it coming Aeon.
This is going to be a huge problem in the near future.
Worse than privatization will be the wars over water when it becomes a matter of life and death in a given reason, death will take its toll.
And the corporations that will control water will become under siege by ordinary human beings desperate for water for which they can not afford to pay.
Ya 'think "Occupy Wall Street" was a message? You ain't seen nothin' yet!