New & very disturbing Satellite photo of what's left of the Aral Sea

[Up2Late]

If you had not heard, about 35 years ago, the Soviet Union started diverting the water that emptied into the Aral Sea to grow Cotton in the desert. You can see in this photo, the ecological disaster this misguided policy produced. To truly understand the extent of the damage, take a look at map of the Former Soviet Union, the Aral Sea is to the right of the Caspian Sea. Here's the Photo and links to some articles about this subject.



Click thumbnail. This should takes you to a page with 4 years of thumbnails for Photos of the Aral Sea. The one nearest the top is the newest. (sorry, it keeps saying the link has illegal code when I try to link directly)

Here are a few links to stories from the BBC News and a few other interesting sites.

The Aral Sea tragedy

Aral Sea 1964, 1973, 1987, 1997, 1999

Bathymetry of the Aral sea (1:500.000)

This one is very striking to compare this 1995 Satellite photo of the Aral Sea
Aral sea and Amu-Dar'ja delta in 1995

Aral Sea Disaster

[DulceDecorum]

1. Thank you for posting this,

I didn't know anything about it.

[oblivious]

2. Holy crap!

I knew it was bad. I'd read stories about the dead fishing industry. But this ....

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. While you are at it... consider the 4300

dams in India, a few of which probably didn't need to be built, I could be wrong, but then there's this....

http://www.irn.org/programs/india/

Throughout South Asia, dams have been the source of heated controversy. Despite investments of tens of billions of dollars, dams have rarely met their expected benefits of irrigation, power generation and flood control. Instead, they have displaced millions of people, destroyed forests and decimated fisheries. In response, massive popular opposition has grown to become a force to be reckoned with.

IRN works to strengthen the network of people fighting destructive dam construction in South Asia and has helped establish the South Asia office of the International Committee on Dams, Rivers and People.

Dam building in India

With 4,300 dams in place, India is one of the world’s major dam building countries. According to estimates, large dams have submerged a land area of about 37,500 square kilometers and have displaced at least 42 million people in India.

[Up2Late]

5. I hope you are not implying, in your post, that I am forgetting the People

Or that I am only mourning the death of what was the 4th largest inland sea. Even if the Aral Sea disaster does not a effect a Billion people, the people of the Aral Sea region are worthy of consideration too.

<>

From the BBC News article:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/678898.stm>

"...Decades of heavy irrigation have raised the water table and brought all the salts the soil held to the surface.

Disease is rife

The human misery is huge. One victim has tuberculosis, which is rife and on the increase in the rest of the population. A tuberculosis victim: Cancer and infant mortality are rife
Cancers, lung disease and infant mortality are 30 times higher than they used to be because the drinking water is heavily polluted with salt, cotton fertilisers and pesticides.

Rim Abdulovich Giniyatullin of the International Agency for the Aral Sea Program hopes that the rest of the world can learn lessons from the Aral Sea tragedy. "Don't allow the misuse of water," he warns. "Be careful about how much you use, and stop before the source starts to shrink."

<>

The Utegenova family lives in Muynak. One of them works - but only part-time. Jobs and food died with the sea. The Utegenovas are constantly hungry and sick. Their tea is salty because of the contaminated water. It killed their father who died 10 years ago of cancer of the oesophagus, a common complaint here. Zulayho, who is pregnant, goes for more water. Like 80% of expectant mothers, she is probably anaemic. She knows that if her child survives, it will almost certainly be ill..."

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. Oh no, not at all.... I was just trying to add to the outrage that

should be expressed over both issues.... neither one any more than the other.... it's all a travesty beyond comprehension.

[aeolian]

4. That's what happens when you divert huge amounts of water to try

to turn a desert green!

(I'm looking at you, people who want to drain the great lakes to feed golf courses and swimming pools in the Southwest!)

[Danmel]

7. Uzbekistan is the second largest cotton producer in the world

Don't know how long they'll be able to sustain it though with no water. Here is a link to a pic of the Uzbek coat of arms- it has cotton plants on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_coats_of_arms#U