As the aral shrank, its salinity increased, and by 1977 the formerly. The aral sea is a lake on the boundary between former soviet republics, kazakhstan and uzbekistan zoom in and out of this satellite image to see where the lake is located and what it looks like today. The new plans to boost soviet agriculture established that, rather than feeding the lake, the water sources should be diverted to form the irrigation system necessary to sustain the growing cotton industry. The authors examine the geopolitics of water in the region, the economic importance, problems of water supply and water quality, and regional conflicts over water. The former soviet union diverted the two rivers that fed the aral sea, to make water available to the surrounding cotton fields and other crop farming regions in the desert like area. A crucial juncture had been reached, and after 1960 the level of the aral sea began to drop, while diversion of water continued to increase. A significant feature of the region is the number of oases fergana valley, khorezm. The book proposes solutions, from bringing back weather and water monitoring.
Water conflict is a term describing a conflict between countries, states, or groups over an access to water resources. The two rivers that feed it are the amu darya and syr darya rivers, respectively reaching the sea. Naturesociety linkages in the aral sea region sciencedirect. While the sea had been receiving about fifty cubic kilometers of water per year in 1965, by the early 1980s this had fallen to zero. This crisis and the steps which led to it epitomize our lack of understanding of our environment, as well as the scale at which we are now able to impact on nature. Watershed describes the water crisis faced by israel and the occupied palestinian territories today a crisis that will have much to do with the design and the success of the current peace proposals. The shallow aral sea was once the worlds fourth largest body of inland water. The saltier water is denser and so does not mix with the less salty water above it.
Mckinney, 1996 the aral coming to the aid of a dying sea newsletter article, 1996. It was once the worlds fourth largest body of inland water but has shrunk remarkably because of the diversion of its sources of inflowing water for irrigation beginning in the second half of the 20th century. Water resources two main rivers cross the aral sea basin from the southeast to the northwest. Urgent action was required and the bank, with a team of foreign experts, stepped in to move the program forward. Aral sea regional allocation model for the amudarya river usaidept project, technical report, daene c. By 1991 almost all river water was being diverted for. The aral sea is dying a victim of environmental malpractice. Today the aral sea is biologically dead and has shrunk by approximately 7580% in volume and 5060% in area. The aral sea basin crisis and sustainable water resource. Karimov and ximing cai, 1997 amu darya river water allocation usaidept project, technical report, akmal kh.
The remnants of it nestle in the climatically inhospitable heart of central asia, to the east of the caspian sea. In october 1990 western scientists confirmed the virtual disappearance of the aral sea in soviet central asia, formerly the fourth largest inland sea in the world. The name roughly translates as sea of islands, referring to over 1,100 islands that had dotted its waters. The 8mile dam, which opened in 2005, allowed more water to flow into the smaller northern aral sea, increasing its volume 68 percent by 2008. It had a fishing industry that employed 60,000 people and it attracted thousands of tourists. Lessons on cooperation building to manage water conflicts in the. What you see is a body of water and environment that have been radically altered by human activity. How soviet pollution destroyed the aral sea bbc news. The aral sea has contributed to sustaining the irrigating land for agriculture, in particular cotton farming which brought income through exporting. Conflict over water in the aral sea environmental degradation of the aral sea in central asia has caused a loss of livelihoods and led to resource competition over water amongst the states sharing the basin, especially kazakhstan, kyrgyzstan, tajikistan, turkmenistan, and uzbekistan.
Disappearance of the aral sea world resources institute. Conflict over water in the aral sea ecc platform library. However, localised conflicts between minorities and respective governments have. The aral sea transboundary river basin home food and. The aral sea and its demise are of great interest and increasing concern to scientists because of the remarkable shrinkage of its area and volume that began in the second half of the 20th centurywhen. The aral sea is situated in central asia, between the southern part of kazakhstan and northern uzbekistan. By the year 2015 the aral sea could totally disappear. More than half the mean annual runoff in the aral sea basin is generated in tajikistan and almost onequarter in kyrgyzstan. The aral sea is the largest inland body of salty reservoirs in the world. Now only 20% of its 1960 size, experts fear that it will have disappeared by 2020. Pdf in the last decades the aral sea, located in central asia on the. The aral sea is situated in the center of the central asian great deserts karakum, kyzylkum, and betpakdala at an altitude of 53 meters above the sea level and functions as a gigantic evaporator. The blowing dust from the exposed lakebed, contaminated with agricultural chemicals, became a public health hazard.
The conflict over water has been nonviolent and mostly diplomatic. But in one small part of the sea, water is returning. Many books, investigations, and surveys have tried to do that. Up until the third quarter of the 20th century it was the world. Between 1960 and january 2006, the level of the small aral fell by m. The aral sea is located between kazakhstan and uzbekistan and was once the fourth largest lake in the world. The aral sea size and water balance are fundamentally determined. The increasingly salty water became polluted with fertilizer and pesticides. Competition for water is increasing in the central asian countries in the aral sea basin since they became independent in 1991. Redirect water from other riverswater bodies to refill aral sea extremely costly, unforeseen environmental effects aral basin must support restoration efforts establish aral sea as unesco world heritage site would mandate partial restoration and bring about sustained international support.
Almost a decade later, the aral is returning to life. Cotton production linked to images of the dried up aral. The actual impact would depend on the design water level in the northern aral sea. Fossil records indicate that the aral sea has had repeated major surface level fluctuations during. The aral sea management experience and lessons learned. The salty dust blew off the lakebed and settled onto fields. The devil and the disappearing sea is the true story of a wellmeaning man who travels to one the earths poorest regions in the hopes of staving off an environmental tragedy. Physical oceanography of the dying aral sea springerlink. Educating spanish civil war refugee children in the soviet. It had sizes stood for 428km in length and 234 km in width, with a maximum depth of 69 m. The aral sea s water was supplied by two of the major rivers in central asia, the amu darya and the syr darya. Aral sea basin, the site of an environmental and human catastrophe. The aral sea was once the worlds fourth largest inland lake.
We can now admit without any doubt that the aral sea crisis is the result of a large and brutal human impact, followed by the interaction between complex mechanisms present in nature. Situated in the centre of the central asian deserts at an altitude of 53 metres above the sea level, the aral sea functions as a gigantic evaporator. The central asian republics of kazakhstan, uzbekistan, kyrgystan, tajikistan and turkmenistan depend upon the sea for survival. Aral sea, a oncelarge saltwater lake of central asia. Impacts on environment all 24 species of fish have died out due to the shrinking water levels also 400,000 km of sea bed are now exposed showing how the aral river is now considered an ecological. However, the complete return of the sea will not be as easy as the northern aral part. Water and empire in central asias aral sea basin studies in environment and history 9781108475471. Efforts to resolve the aral sea crisis aquapedia case. The aral sea is the ecological disaster that youve. These rivers together account for the only inflow surface precipitation and groundwater contributions are minimal of water to the aral sea. A wide range of water conflicts appear throughout history, though rarely are traditional wars waged over water alone. Aral sea basin program kazakhstan, kyrgyz republic. Demands on the watershed for irrigation and other purposes have overdrawn water resources. As the aral sea has dried up, fisheries and the communities that depended on them collapsed.
Not only was all this water being diverted into canals at the expense of the aral sea supply, but the majority of it was being soaked up by the desert and blatantly. By 2007 the south had split into a deep western basin, a shallow eastern basin and a small, isolated gulf. It is formed by the junction of the vakhsh and panj rivers, in the tigrovaya balka nature reserve on the border between afghanistan and tajikistan, and flows from there northwestwards into the southern remnants of the aral sea. Problems of the aral sea and water resources of central.
Aral sea basin program kazakhstan, kyrgyz republic, tajikistan, turkmenistan and uzbekistan water and environmental management project english abstract the objective of the aral sea basin program asbp water and environmental management project is to address the root causes of the overuse and degradation of the international waters of the. Contributions of agricultural irrigation anda changing climate. Physical oceanography of the dying aral sea describes the background, present crisis state, and possible future of this peculiar inland water body from the physical oceanographic standpoint. The amu darya also called the amu or amo river, amudaryo, and historically known by its latin name oxus and greek.
The progress in the northern aral has increased hopes for the return of the aral sea. Instead, he encounters corrupt officials, bumbling bureaucrats, antiwestern hostility, and a slew of insurmountable problems. Climate change and international water conflict in central. The aral sea use to be the forthlargest saline sea in the world, that is until in the 1960s. In the late 1980s the water level fell so low that the ancient sea split into two bodies of water. In the early 1960s, the thensoviet union diverted the amu darya and syr darya rivers for irrigation of one of the driest parts of asia to produce rice, melons, cereals, and especially cotton. The aral separated into two water bodies in 198789. Aral sea transboundary river basin 3 about 90 percent of tajikistan and kyrgyzstan is mountainous. Tony french, senior lecturer in geography at university college london, said that at this rate there would be very little left of the aral sea by the millennium. Waiting for the sea it took just 40 years for the aral sea to dry up. About 60 km3 of water evaporates per year from the sea and its rivers. The water supply to the aral sea is mainly from two rivers, the amu darya and syr darya, which carry snow melt from mountainous areas. It should be added that the aral sea once was the worlds fourth largest inland body of water.
The problems began when the former soviet union made kazakhstan its main producer of. The aral sea is a terminal lake amidst the deserts of central asia. The united nations recognizes that water disputes result from opposing interests of water users, public or private. Since the collapse of the soviet union and the decentralisation of water management in the aral sea and its rivers, diplomatic tensions have been evident as. Environmental degradation of the aral sea in central asia has caused a loss of livelihoods and led to resource competition over water amongst the states sharing the basin, especially kazakhstan, kyrgyzstan, tajikistan, turkmenistan, and uzbekistan.
The surface water level of the aral sea in natural conditions used to reach 53m above the sea level, which is almost 80m higher than the present level of the caspian sea. Feedback evaporation as a result, only the top 20 metres of the sea heat up by convection in the summer. Massive consumptive withdrawals of water from the amu darya and syr darya rivers are depriving the aral sea of its natural intake of water. The aral sea environmental health crisis phillip whishwilson introduction the aral sea was once the fourth largest inland body of water on earth with a surface area of 66,000 km2. When it was the fourth largest body of inland water in the world, the aral sea fed life into central asia and supported threequarters of its population. The aral sea basin is considered a disaster zone by many. Water and environmental management in the aral sea basin. Fishing ports suddenly found themselves in a desert. Strategic decision support for resolving conflict over water. Introduction the aral sea used to be the forth largest inland body of water. Request pdf water in the aral sea basin of central asia.
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