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The ARAL SEA. How poor water management has had disastrous environmental, economic & social consequences. Location. The Aral Sea lies on the border of Kazakhstan & Uzbekistan, in Central Asia. It is part of what was until 1991 the old Soviet Union. It was the World’s 4 th largest inland sea.
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The ARAL SEA How poor water management has had disastrous environmental, economic & social consequences.
Location • The Aral Sea lies on the border of Kazakhstan & Uzbekistan, in Central Asia. • It is part of what was until 1991 the old Soviet Union. • It was the World’s 4th largest inland sea.
Location • The Aral sea is in the middle of the Central Asian Desert. • Summer temperatures rise to over 40oC. • The Aral Sea is fed by 2 rivers Syr Dar’ya & Amu Dar’ya. These rivers rise in the mountains to the South. • There is no outlet river.
The Problem • The Aral Sea is gradually shrinking & drying up. • The sea has now divided into 2 smaller seas, shortly to be 3. • Why?
Causes • In one word – Cotton • During the Soviet era Uzbekistan was designated as a major cotton growing region of the USSR. Cotton is known as “white gold” & is highly profitable to grow. • The Fergana Valley became a huge cotton growing area.
Causes • To make cotton grow in a desert large quantities of water are needed (Irrigation). • Dams were constructed on the rivers & canals diverted the water to the cotton growing farms. • This reduced the flow of water reaching the Aral Sea.
The Second Problem • The water quality in the Aral Sea began to decline rapidly
Causes • The sea became saltier due to evaporation. • As the sea shrank the remaining salt was concentrated in less water
Causes • More serious was pollution from a range of toxic chemicals. • Large quantities of fertilizer, insecticides, herbicides, defoliants etc were applied to the cotton. • These chemicals were returned to the rivers with the remaining irrigation water & eventually ended up in the Aral Sea.
Impacts • The wetlands of the river deltas dried out, drastically affecting the wildlife of the area. • Large areas of the former Aral Sea were reduced to barren lifeless salt plains. • The fish numbers & the birds which fed on them declined rapidly.
Impacts • Once prosperous seaside villages were left “high & dry” many kilometres from the receding sea this caused further problems. • Local wells have dried up as the water table has dropped. • The fishing industry collapsed. • Fish processing factories closed or had to be supplied from outside areas. • Unemployment rose rapidly, people began to migrate away from the area.
Impacts As the sea shrank boats were left “high & dry” the area is now littered with rusting hulks.
Perhaps the biggest problem has been a decline in the health of the local inhabitants. • The chemicals have seeped into the local water supply causing a wide range of health problems such as cancer, tuberculosis, deformities in babies, liver & kidney failure, anaemia, lung disease & high infant mortality etc. Polluted water Signing up for health care A TB sufferer Infant Mortality & childhood illnesses have increased.
The remaining Issues • The scheme is no longer under the control of one government. International co-operation is required to reach sustainable solutions. • Local populations are in desperate need of safe drinking water. • The sustainability of growing cotton under irrigation in desert regions needs to be considered. Economic activities that are less dependent on large quantities of water need to be considered. • Agricultural efficiency needs to be reviewed. There are significant loss of cotton and rice in storage and transpiration. Crop rotation and appropriate technologies need to be used to improve efficiency. • Irrigation systems need to be redesigned to reduce water loss and the allocation of water needs to be rationed.
