Aral Sea current state. Aral Sea

The vast sea has dried up almost completely in just a few decades. The team of the multimedia eco-project "SHOWER. Living Asia" went on an expedition to the Aral Sea and, especially for the site, brought a photo report about the sea, which has become a desert.

"Pill" (as the locals call the all-wheel drive UAZ), now and then dangerously heeling and creaking from effort, rides and rides on the sand. If you break away from the feeling that you are about to be smeared on the seat and realize yourself as some kind of abstraction, and not like a sprat in a jar, then a very strange feeling covers you. We ride on the dry bottom of the sea. 60 years ago, there were 25 meters of water right above our heads.

This has never happened in the history of the Earth. In just a few decades, a huge lake (the fourth largest in the world) almost completely turned into a desert. In 1960, the area of ​​the Aral water surface was 68,900 sq. km. In 2009 (this was the absolute minimum) - 7,300.

Drying process of the Aral Sea / Illustration by livingasia.online

closed sea

Interestingly, the tragedy of the situation is most clearly felt in foreign, and not in Kazakh or Uzbek (the Aral Sea is located on the territory of these states) studies and publications. For example, here's the title: Aral Sea "one of the planet"s worst environmental disasters"("The Aral Sea is one of the largest environmental disasters on the planet").

The dried bottom of the Aral Sea / Photo by livingasia.online

Perhaps the reason why little is said and written about the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is the long period of secrecy. Before perestroika, only scientists, high-ranking officials and local residents knew about the situation with the Aral Sea. Since the late 1970s, the drying sea has been studied by all the largest research institutes Kazakh and Uzbek SSR, Moscow and Leningrad. But the results of the research were published only in collections marked "secret". They could only be read by those who had the appropriate access.

Or maybe it's all about mentality

"The people of Kazakhstan in general have always lived in harsh natural conditions - climatic, environmental. It was quite difficult for the people to survive, and they are used to these difficulties. Perhaps that is why they do not consider the tragedy of the Aral Sea as catastrophic as it is perceived at the international level. The people are accustomed to difficulties, have learned to overcome them," says Taisiya Ivanovna Budnikova, Candidate of Geographical Sciences, International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS). She has been studying the Aral Sea since 1977 and has written more than 100 scientific papers about this problem. Colleagues jokingly call her "Tais Aral".

Rescue plans

Taisiya Ivanovna says: “Then, in the late 70s, no one could believe that the sea would dry up. It seemed that it was just a fluctuation in the water level, soon everything would fall into place. At first, the sea was leaving not a few centimeters a year. x in the Eastern Aral Sea, where the coast was always shallow, the sea retreated a few kilometers a year.

Photo livingasia.online

When it became clear that the sea itself would not return, they began to figure out how to save the Aral Sea. Options were sometimes the most unexpected. Stop taking water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya and irrigate the land with the help of wind-driven water-lifting installations. Send water from the Caspian to the Aral Sea. Or here's another: the famous "giant-man" project for the transfer of Siberian rivers.

Director of IFAS Bolat Bekniyaz in the 70s was a junior researcher at the Institute of Geological Sciences. Satpaev. He was engaged in surveys, studied the route along which they were supposed to launch a canal from Siberia to Central Asia. The plans were the most ambitious. The canal was to stretch for a distance of 2,550 km.

Photo livingasia.online

“The canal was supposed to go from under the Russian Kurgan to the region of Kazakhstan’s Kyzylorda,” says Bolat Bekniyaz. “Cross the Syr Darya River and reach the Amu Darya River. Aral Sea The project was supposed to be implemented already in 1986. And in 1986 it was closed - there was no funding.

Current situation

Until the mid-2000s, the situation with the sea was catastrophic. Then many scientists prophesied that soon the Aral Sea would dry up completely. In 2005, on the territory of Kazakhstan, between the Big and Small Aral, the Kokaral dam was built. The construction made it possible to fill the Small Aral to the level of 42 meters.

The Big Aral can no longer be saved. To restore the entire sea, it is required that 60-70 cubic kilometers of water enter it per year. Now the Syr Darya gives 6 cubic kilometers, the Amu Darya - zero, all the water is taken for irrigation.

Photo livingasia.online

After the filling of the Small Sea, life in the coastal villages changed dramatically. The fish has arrived. Fish is now in high price - for one catch from a boat you can earn 100, and 200 thousand tenge.

Photo livingasia.online

New schools, first-aid posts and fish receiving plants appeared in the villages.

School in the Aral Sea / Photo by livingasia.online

Now, 8.4 thousand tons of fish are harvested in the Small Aral per year (2015), before the disaster, annual catches reached 40 thousand tons.

What will happen to the Aral

The Kazakh side predicts a long but progressive recovery of the Aral Sea.

There are several options for the development of the event. Here are the most feasible ones.

The first is to raise the Kokaral dam by another 6-7 meters. This will raise the level of the Small Aral to 48 meters, and the volume of water will increase by a third.

Dam in the Aral Sea / Photo by livingasia.online

The second option is to build another dam on the sea, in the Sarashyganak area. This will create another reservoir 50 meters deep in the Aralsk region.

Briefly about Aral

The Aral Sea is located on the territory of two countries - Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Sea levels have begun to decline since the 1960s. Until that time, the Aral gave about 13% of the total fish catch in the USSR. In 1984, fishing in the sea completely stopped.

The reason for the drying up of the Aral is the transfer of most of the flow of the Amudarya and Syrdarya to irrigate the fields. In 1960, there were 4.1 million hectares of irrigated land in the Amudarya and Syrdarya basins, in 1990 - 7.4 million hectares.

Due to the drying of the Aral Sea, the incidence of typhoid fever, cholelithiasis, chronic gastritis, esophageal cancer, and tuberculosis has sharply increased in the region.

Due to dusty emissions, the turbidity of the atmosphere in the Aral Sea region has almost tripled. The air has become twice as dry.

On the former territory The Aral contains about 10 billion tons of salt. If it is scattered on the ground in an even layer of 5 cm, it will cover an area of ​​approximately 10 million hectares.

Scum - in the literal sense: those who walk along the bottom. To meet these people, I also had to sink to the very bottom. I was not happy, but it worked out.

What is happening in the Uzbek Muynak, a barely alive city on the shores of the Dead Sea? Unlike the Dead Sea in Israel, these people killed themselves.

1 The disaster zone begins long before the seashore. In stunted villages here and there are pieces of rusty metal, something that for several decades was called ships and walked on water. Some ships were lucky, they were preserved and made improvised monuments.

In one Soviet Union, two of the world's largest catastrophes happened - technological in Chernobyl and environmental in Central Asia. That country no longer exists, but the entire country will deal with the consequences of both disasters for a very long time. In January, I was in, at the end of spring I was brought to the other side of the once great united country. Here, too, a kind of Zone. Not so long ago, a prosperous land has become a bare lifeless desert, and millions of people have lost the most important source of life - water.

Muynak, the farthest city of Uzbekistan from Tashkent, is the edge of geography in every respect. Once it was a major seaport with fishermen and industry.

IN Ancient Greece there was a parable about a drunkard who wanted to drink the sea. At a noisy feast, Xanth boasted that everything is subject to man. Word for word, in the dispute, the comrades took "weakly."
- Will you drink the sea? they asked him.
- I'll drink! - answered Xanth and they bet on the bet.
In the morning he sobered up and was horrified by such a shame. Aesop, who was a witness to the dispute, undertook to help the fool Xanthus.
“As you go out with judges and spectators to the seashore, so you say: I promised to drink the sea, but I did not promise the rivers that flow into it; let my rival block up all the rivers that flow into the sea, then I will drink it!” Xanthus did so, and everyone marveled at his wisdom.

Several thousand years later, the Aral Sea was destroyed in approximately the same way.

2 What is left of the Amu Darya River. The width of the dried riverbed is impressive.

3 The rivers have become shallow already, but they continue to dry up. Vast territories and millions of people suffer. Although the inhabitants of almost any post-Soviet hinterland, such devastation will not seem like something special even without an ecological catastrophe.

4 The road seemed endless. In time, only two hours from Nukus, but they dragged on much longer. At some point, all the cars disappeared. No one went with us to Muynak, no one returned from there. such lulls occur in the last kilometers before the border. When local traffic has already ended, and oncoming cars are held by customs.

5 Yes, there is a real border here, but not between states. The boundary of time and timelessness, that's what Muynak is. A little more, and you will understand it. I'll try to convey my feelings. I remember now, three months after the trip - to goosebumps. It's like if tomorrow you arrive in Sochi or Nice, and the sea has disappeared there.

6 Exactly the same feeling grips you when you enter the former coastal town. There are still waves, a seagull and a lone fish jumping out of the water on the old entrance sign.

7 It was necessary to come on that one day when at least something happens in the town. That evening there was a big concert at the city stadium. The sports arena here is as phantom as the sea. Trampled ground with bald patches of old lawn. The stars of the Karakalpak stage are unpretentious, they agreed to such conditions. And the audience is happy. Police officers were rounded up from all over the Autonomous Republic, iron fences were brought in and access to the body was blocked. An impromptu stage was set in the middle of the "hippodrome", but the singer literally walked along the edge! The songs were long, drawn-out and pitiful. I am sure that it is about love, and not about the Aral Sea.

8 Entrance ticket - five thousand soums. 43 rubles 15 kopecks Russian. They even accepted plastic cards, but only Uzbek ones. A group of guys clustered at the entrance, not daring to enter. They did not speak Russian, but I understood that they tried to slip through without money, but my aunt did not let me in, even though she knows them from kindergarten.

9 Five thousand money is not big, but it is better to spend it on seeds or cigarettes.

10 Why so many young people in a city of 18,000 without work and production can only be guessed at. As well as about the fate that awaits the younger generation of Muynak.

11 Having hardly defended a couple of songs, I decided to continue walking around the city. I slipped the ticket to one of the loser hares on duty at the entrance, I took one last look at the pop star and left the stadium.

12 Muynak is a very strange place. Everywhere in Uzbekistan people live not richly, but with dignity, they sweep the streets and clean the inner chambers of their dwellings to a shine. They smile at those they meet, and especially tourists. Most of them are not aggressive at all. But hostility is in the air here. Each look glares at you, as if wanting to drill through. And these people obviously do not like that you came here. You are not welcome here.

13 We're standing on the seashore right now. Right there, behind the blue fence splashing salt water. Now it's quiet here, because the whole city is listening to the concert. You can stand in silence, and in the morning everything will boil again, bubbling, flocks of hungry gulls will chase fishing boats and yell: "give, give, die ..."

There is none of this. No water, no fish, no seagulls. Boats sank to the bottom, people fell to the bottom. This strange triangle of concrete is a monument to the Great Patriotic war. They used to be a long time ago. Now it is a monument to the Dead Sea. For something that can't be returned.

The word "Aral" in translation means "island", that is, the Island Sea in the middle of the deserts. Unlike the Caspian Sea, which is a "torn off" piece of the World Ocean, the Aral Sea has never been a real sea - but it was the third largest lake on Earth.

It was fed by the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya, and the life of the Aral from time immemorial depended on the latter. Even its drying up is not the first: on the opened bottom, archaeologists discovered settlements and foundations of palaces and mausoleums (Kerderi, Aral-Asar) of the not so distant 11-15 centuries. It is believed that the last time the Aral dried up in the 4th century, and again began to fill in the 1570s, and this was also an unheard-of disaster for the desert - people had to leave their villages, which were inevitably attacked by water!

But for 400 years everyone got used to the sea-lake, and the life of Khorezm in the 19th century could not be imagined without the Aral fishermen. IN Soviet time Cheese and Amu were dismantled for irrigation of the fields of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, and in itself this step was by no means insane - in Central Asia there is no shortage of water, so characteristic of countries in deserts. However, the runoff could no longer exceed evaporation, and since the 1960s, the shallow sea began to shallow and leave before our eyes. By 1989, having halved in area, and tripled in volume (that is, to the size of Azov), the Aral split into two - the Small Aral in Kazakhstan and the Large Aral in Uzbekistan. The Kazakhs managed to stabilize the Small Aral by concentrating the flow of the Syr Darya in it, and now fishing is even reviving in it, from Aralsk to the water 25 kilometers.

But the Big Aral continued to dry out. It has long since become smaller than the Small Aral and itself has broken up into several parts, and the fish in it have died. The salt dust left at the bottom turned out to be contaminated with pesticides that the Amu Darya and Syr Darya carried from the fields, and now sends the earth hundreds of kilometers around. The island of Vozrozhdeniye “moored” to the shore, on which in Soviet times there was a testing ground for testing bacteriological weapons and abandoned burial grounds remained. // from log varandej

15 The old lighthouse has been preserved, its classic round tower was thoroughly mutilated with plastic double-glazed windows. For a long time it stood abandoned, but now it has been bought out and several young guys are trying to build a tourism business. They let you upstairs for a little money, but I refused - the equipment was not preserved, and I myself can look down on the world with the help of a quadrocopter.

16 In the neighborhood of the lighthouse, a yurt camp was set up, somewhat traditional for nomadic peoples (the Karakalpaks, unlike the Uzbeks, are not too assiduous historically), where anyone can now spend the night. The price of the issue is ten "bucks" from the nose, there is a shower, but in a separate annex. You can view the amenities by clicking on the arrow right on this photo.

17 In the parking lot in front of the monument, almost at the very edge of the cliff, there is a MAN truck, converted into a motor home. Judging by the numbers, travelers came from Munich itself to look at the consequences of the largest environmental disaster. On such and such transport you can get to the water, and to the former island of the Renaissance.

18 We drove in an ordinary rental car, so we couldn’t spend the night right in the desert. It is good that yurts appeared near the lighthouse, but they did not suit us. They do not register there, and according to the law, foreign tourists must report when leaving the country where they spent every night. Now this law can already be repealed, in Uzbekistan now everything is changing rapidly in better side but then it still worked. So we found two more hostels where we can accommodate. One is right on the main street, opposite the school. The place is new, opened in April 2018 and is clearly designed for groups of foreign tourists. There are only three rooms, more like barracks - there are single beds in a row, the shower and toilet are shared. We were lucky that there were no guests at all that day, we spent the night in the room alone. But if anything, the settlement cannot be avoided, there are simply no options. The night cost 20 dollars per person, which is of course damn expensive for Uzbekistan and such a hole, but there is not much to choose from. Even at the stage of preparing the trip, I "rang" the numbers indicated in earlier travel reports, people recommended people with whom to stay. None picked up the phone. So we went at random, but we were not left without a roof over our heads. They even gave us breakfast. Pictures of food and interiors will open to those who will click on the right arrow right on this photo.

19 Early in the morning we went to the airport to look at the city from above. In full view! Green meadows with small puddles are what was once called the sea. They say there was a time when it was possible to get here only by water or by plane. The air harbor served 20 flights a day! A flight of passenger AN-2s was based at the airfield, and the runway received AN-24s, Yak-40s, and lighter aircraft and helicopters of any model. Although the sea left in the 70s, they flew here before the collapse of the USSR.

20 Now the airport is abandoned, and only birds and quadcopter owners can see Muynak from above. Climbing a hundred meters, I saw water. Much water!

21 Another artifact from the past is a gate with TU planes and the logo of the Soviet Aeroflot.

22 Some things are changing for the better. Like the lighthouse on the cliff, I also expected to see the terminal building empty and abandoned. All of a sudden it was repaired, painted, windows put in, and "Zhenis!" - and then completely incomprehensible words. With the help of a Google translator, who does not know the Karakalpak language, I found out that this is a banquet hall. Well, yes, just for weddings.

23 A meteorological station that appears to be operational.

24 For some time, air ambulances still landed here, but even those wonderful years are long gone. The airport is completely dead. Although some navigation and lighting equipment survived.

25 Life in Muynak, even by the water, did not look like a resort, and now it has completely begun to slide back towards the Middle Ages.

26 I don't know how old these blocks of flats are, or if the amenities were originally designed, but these crooked sheds with numbers on them are nothing more than...toilets! No common toilets, this is a city, not a village! Each apartment has its own! But... what the hell to live like that!

27 Some apartments don't even have windows! But there are satellite dishes. The unfortunate inhabitants of the city on the sea are trying to hide from the horrifying reality, at least in the dreams of the TV. But the caring state has recently painted the walls of all houses. From a distance, they don't look so bad.

28 The logo of the 1980 Moscow Olympics is visible under a layer of paint.

29 Having read other posts about Muynak, we took several packages of sweets with us to distribute to children. Usually they chase foreigners and demand to give them something. It is better to carry fresh bottled water, they need it more, but we did not have the opportunity and space. We didn't meet little beggars on our way, so we gave the whole pack to this guy. I look, and on his brand new bike the brand is UKRAINA. What is that? After all, the Kharkov plant seems to have closed?

30 An overgrown and abandoned Orthodox area at City Cemetery No. 1. As in Nukus, a community of Cossacks-Old Believers lived in Muynak. Maybe even now the last old people are living out their lives. We did not meet a single Russian on the streets.

31 Cinema "Berdakh" and the head of the same Karakalpak poet. They promise cafes and movies at 3D, but the place doesn't look active. Only the facade is painted with the same yellow paint that all the old houses in the city of the republic. The appearance that all is not yet lost.

32 Is it true that life is being reborn? In the center is a tiny amusement park for the little ones. For such a hole, this is already good.

33 And there's also an internet cafe.

34 The ground here is sand.

35 The most modern and "rich" building in the whole city is the building of the registry office and the notary's office. There is even a ramp for the disabled. According to which, perhaps, to drive cows. Because there is such devastation around that even if there is even one wheelchair user here, he will not even be able to get to this street.

36 In its fat years, the city lived not only on fish. This is reminiscent of fading

37 There are two ways to truly be horrified by the Aral Sea disaster. Hire an SUV with a guide and drive 100-200 kilometers to the nearest water: where the sea has gone. It costs about two hundred dollars per person. We didn't go. I picked up the quadcopter and flew a little over the ship graveyard, a poignant and sad monument.

38 "The Graveyard" is ten boats and ships of various sizes, from fishing schooners to small barges, all in a deplorable state with only rusty metal left.

39 They say that all this pile of iron was dragged here from all over the coast for scale and to attract tourists. After all, the sea left Muynak not yesterday, but almost half a century ago. It moved further and further, running away from people.

40 port facilities, marinas and docks have not survived at all over these long years.

41 The expanse of water has given way to mounds of sandy bottom, but the boundless view and horizon still hint at the origin of the landscape, which was not desert at all.

42 "Beware of the tug."

43 The seabed is covered in shells.

46 Navigator Maps.me, unlike Google, Yandex, Waze and others, always shows much more roads. Does he take them from the old General Staff maps? And if you believe the map, then along the coast, not far from the embankment and the cemetery of ships, there was once a pioneer camp. We tried to get there, but had to turn back halfway through the 10-kilometer journey. What was the road was completely covered with sand, and only traces from off-road vehicles made it clear that they sometimes drive here. But how often? If we were stuck here, it wouldn't be fun at all. Communication does not catch, walk 5 kilometers through the desert ... turned back

47 Cannery ruins.

48 There is also little left of the fish processing plant. But before, when the trees were large, Muynak supplied almost the entire Soviet Union. Jars with labels are shown in the Aral Sea Museum, which is also here, on the main street, but was closed for reconstruction.

49 The industrial zone seems empty and abandoned, but one of the buildings of the former fish factory is functioning. On the walls of the cell, in the security booth, in front of the entrance there is a Toyota with "thieves" numbers, and in Uzbekistan a foreign car of this level means a lot. What are they doing there? We don't know this.

50 Muynak is called the end of the earth, but the road does not end there. Another 15 kilometers on broken asphalt, and there will be a working settlement Uchsay.

51 There are several more villages along the road, even poorer and more insignificant than Muynak. But people do not just live here, but even a regular bus runs. Even if only to the city, this is already something. But still I can’t understand inside myself how people can live in such lost, forgotten and useless places on the map. Unless they themselves, forgotten and lost. And there is some bitter truth in this.

52 Heavy rotational "Urals" are rushing along Uchsay, several change houses stand on the former shore, a yellow giraffe-like crane drags black pipes from place to place. Oil was found here, or gas, that's why life is glimmering, that's why the bus. And it was only by a miracle that a white small memorial to those who died in the Great Patriotic War was preserved here. With Soviet symbols, long blotted out in independent Uzbekistan (decommunization took place here before Ukraine), with naive nomenklatura lines. Probably, this is one of the last places in the country where such memorials still remain, even in Muynak there are no more.

53 We're on our way back. There is nowhere else to go here, it is not possible to get to the Vozrozhdeniye Island, it is too expensive to drive 200 kilometers in an UAZ just to look at the water. Again we pass a lonely entrance sign with a faded fish jumping on the waves. Cows stand in the tall roadside grass and nonchalantly chew on plants. These smart ones figured it out. They stand waist-deep in cool water and chew juicy grass while others choke on dried stems. Where does the water come from - do not ask, it has not rained in the desert for a long time. I look at the map - there was also the sea here. And these drops are the last tears of the Aral.

54 If you liked this report, feel free to "like" it and share the link with your friends. I will be glad to comments, additions and stories of those who remember these places quite differently.

In the old days, the Aral Sea was the 4th largest in the world. And at the moment it is called the lake-sea. It is located both in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The sea is endorheic, with salt water. In 1960, this sea occupied an area equal to 66.1 thousand square kilometers. Not particularly deep, the average depth is 10-15 meters, and the largest is 54.5 meters. But by 1990, the sea occupied an area almost half that - 36.5 thousand square kilometers. However, this is not yet a chapel. Just 5 years later, in 1995, the following data were released: the sea surface area was reduced by half, and the sea lost three-quarters of its water volume. At the moment, desertification prevails on more than 33 thousand square kilometers of the former seabed. The coastline has decreased by 100-150 kilometers. The water itself also underwent a change: salinity increased by 2.5 times. As a result, the huge sea turned into two lake-seas: the Small Aral and the Big Aral.

The consequences of such a catastrophe have long gone beyond the region. From places where the waters of the sea used to be, and now the land, more than 100 thousand tons of salt are carried every year, as well as fine dust, to which various poisons and chemicals are mixed. Naturally, such a combination has a very detrimental effect on all living organisms. Any sailor will be surprised at the pictures that the once former is now opening. There are a lot of ghost ships that have found an eternal home on land.

All these facts indicate that by 2015 the sea simply will not become such a pace. In place of the sea, the Aral-Kum desert is formed. Accordingly, it will become a continuation of the Kyzylkum and Karakum deserts. After the disappearance of the sea for decades, the wind will carry various toxic poisons that poison the air around the world. With the disappearance of the Aral Sea, the climate in the adjacent territory will also change. The climate is already changing: summer in the Aral Sea region is drier and shorter every year, and winter, accordingly, is noticeably colder and longer. But climate change is just the beginning. After all, the population of the Aral Sea region is suffering. They are acutely aware of the lack of water. Thus, residents receive only 15-20 liters per day instead of the average norm of 125 liters.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has distributed the latest results of observations from the Envisat satellite, which indicate a significant decrease in the area of ​​the Eastern part of the Large Aral Sea, a REGNUM News correspondent reports in Tashkent.

According to ESA experts, images taken from 2006 to 2009 show that the eastern part of the Aral Sea has lost 80% of its water surface. In many respects, this drying process, which began half a century ago, is associated with the turn of the rivers that fed it. In the last twenty years, the sea has actually divided into two reservoirs, the Small Aral from the north side (located on the territory of Kazakhstan) and the Big Aral from the south (located on the territory of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan). Since 2000, the Big Aral, in turn, has been divided into two parts - eastern and western.

According to ESA experts, the Big Aral may completely disappear as early as 2020. Earlier, REGNUM News reported that the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov at a meeting of the heads of founding states of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea on April 28 in Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan) said that it is hardly practically possible to save the Aral Sea in the full sense of the word. In his opinion, it is necessary to carry out a program of measures thought out in all respects to create normal conditions for the population living here, necessary for healthy lifestyle living conditions. The President of Uzbekistan proposed a number of measures to overcome the consequences of the drying up of the Aral Sea and the ecological improvement of the Aral Sea basin. Such measures, according to Karimov, are: the creation of local reservoirs on the already dried-up bottom of the Aral Sea, the flooding of delta reservoirs in order to reduce dust and salt storms, and the restoration of biodiversity and the delta ecosystem. Karimov considers it necessary to carry out forest plantations on the dried bottom of the Aral Sea, fix moving sands, reduce the removal of poisonous aerosols from the dried bottom, provide drinking water and equip communal and medical institutions with water disinfection devices, re-equip water intake facilities with chlorination plants and much more.

The head of Uzbekistan also proposes to systematically study the impact of the growing ecological crisis in the Aral Sea zone on the state of health and the gene pool of the population, to prevent and prevent the wide spread of various dangerous, region-specific diseases of people, to deploy specialized networks of preventive and medical institutions for the population, to implement programs of measures for the rapid development of social infrastructure. Karimov stressed that over the past 10 years alone, more than one billion dollars have been spent on the implementation of these projects and programs, including through foreign loans, technical assistance and grants - about 265 million dollars.

Speaking about the Aral Sea tragedy and measures to overcome it, we are all, of course, aware that the solution of this problem is most directly related to the problems of rational and reasonable use of water and energy resources, the most careful approach to preserving such a fragile environmental and water balances in the region, the President stressed. I think that in today's very serious, increasingly deteriorating environmental situation in the Aral Sea zone and in the whole region, there is obviously no need to prove or convince someone of taking the most drastic measures to prevent possible negative consequences desiccation of the Aral Sea,” concluded the President of Uzbekistan.

Almost whole inflow of water into the Aral Sea provided by the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers. For thousands of years, it happened that the channel of the Amu Darya went away from the Aral Sea (towards the Caspian Sea), causing a decrease in the size of the Aral Sea. However, with the return of the Aral River, it was invariably restored to its former borders. Today, the intensive irrigation of cotton and rice fields consumes a significant part of the flow of these two rivers, which drastically reduces the flow of water into their deltas and, accordingly, into the sea itself. Precipitation in the form of rain and snow, as well as underground sources give Aral Sea much less water than is lost during evaporation, as a result of which the water volume of the lake-sea decreases, and the salinity level increases

In the Soviet Union, the deteriorating state of the Aral Sea was hidden for decades, until 1985, when M.S. Gorbachev made this ecological catastrophe public. In the late 1980s the water level dropped so much that the whole sea was divided into two parts: the northern Small Aral and the southern Big Aral. By 2007, deep western and shallow eastern reservoirs, as well as the remains of a small separate bay, were clearly identified in the southern part. The volume of the Big Aral has decreased from 708 to only 75 km3, and the salinity of the water has increased from 14 to more than 100 g/l. With the collapse in 1991, the Aral Sea was divided between the newly formed states: Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Thus, the grandiose Soviet plan to transfer the waters of distant Siberian rivers here was put to an end, and competition for possession of the melting water resources began. It remains only to be glad that it was not possible to complete the project for the transfer of the rivers of Siberia, because it is not known what disasters would follow this

Collector-drainage waters coming from the fields into the bed of the Syrdarya and Amudarya caused deposits of pesticides and various other agricultural pesticides, appearing in some places on 54 thousand km? former seabed covered with salt. Dust storms carry salt, dust and pesticides to a distance of up to 500 km. Sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate are airborne and destroy or slow down the development of natural vegetation and crops. The local population suffers from a high prevalence of respiratory diseases, anemia, cancer of the larynx and esophagus, as well as digestive disorders. Diseases of the liver and kidneys, eye diseases have become more frequent.

The drying up of the Aral Sea had the most severe consequences. Due to a sharp decrease in river flow, spring floods stopped, supplying the floodplains of the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya fresh water and fertile deposits. The number of fish species living here has decreased from 32 to 6 - the result of an increase in the level of salinity of the water, the loss of spawning grounds and food sites (which have survived mainly only in river deltas). If in 1960 the fish catch reached 40 thousand tons, then by the mid-1980s. local commercial fishing simply ceased to exist, and more than 60 thousand related jobs were lost. The most common inhabitant was the Black Sea flounder, adapted to life in the salty sea ​​water and brought here in the 1970s. However, by 2003, it also disappeared in the Great Aral, unable to withstand water salinity of more than 70 g / l - 2-4 times more than in its usual marine environment.
Aral Sea

Navigation in the Aral Sea has ceased. the water receded for many kilometers from the main local ports: the city of Aralsk in the north and the city of Muynak in the south. And keeping ever longer canals to ports navigable proved too costly. With the lowering of the water level in both parts of the Aral, the groundwater level also dropped, which accelerated the process of desertification of the area. By the mid 1990s. instead of the lush greenery of trees, shrubs and grasses, on the former seashores, only rare bunches of halophytes and xerophytes were visible - plants adapted to saline soils and dry habitats. At the same time, only half of the local species of mammals and birds have been preserved. Within 100 km of the original coastline, the climate has changed: it has become hotter in summer and colder in winter, the level of air humidity has decreased (respectively, the amount of precipitation has decreased), the length of the growing season has decreased, and droughts have become more frequent.

Despite its vast drainage basin, the Aral Sea receives almost no water due to irrigation canals, which, as the photo below shows, take water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya for hundreds of kilometers of their flow through the territory of several states. Among other consequences - the disappearance of many species of animals and plants

However, if we turn to the history of the Aral, the sea has already dried up, while again returning to its former shores. So, what was the Aral Sea like for the last few centuries and how did its size change?

IN historical era there were significant fluctuations in the level of the Aral Sea. So, on the retreating bottom, the remains of trees that grew in this place were found. In the middle of the Cenozoic era (21 million years ago), the Aral was connected to the Caspian. Until 1573, the Amu Darya flowed into the Caspian Sea along the Uzboy branch, and the Turgai River into the Aral. The map compiled by the Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy (1800 years ago) shows the Aral and Caspian Seas, the Zarafshan and Amu Darya rivers flow into the Caspian. At the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries, the islands of Barsakelmes, Kaskakulan, Kozzetpes, Uyaly, Biyiktau, and Vozrozhdeniye were formed due to lowering of the sea level. The rivers Zhanadarya since 1819, Kuandarya since 1823 ceased to flow into the Aral. From the beginning of systematic observations (XIX century) and until the middle of the XX century, the level of the Aral practically did not change. In the 1950s, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world, occupying about 68 thousand square kilometers; its length was 426 km, width - 284 km, maximum depth - 68 m.

In the 1930s, large-scale construction of irrigation canals began in Central Asia, which was especially intensified in the early 1960s. Since the 1960s, the sea has become shallow due to the fact that the water of the rivers that flowed into it was diverted in increasing volumes for irrigation. From 1960 to 1990, the area of ​​irrigated land in Central Asia increased from 4.5 million to 7 million hectares. Needs National economy region in the water increased from 60 to 120 km? per year, of which 90% is for irrigation. Beginning in 1961, the sea level decreased at an increasing rate from 20 to 80–90 cm/yr. Until the 1970s, 34 species of fish lived in the Aral Sea, of which more than 20 were of commercial importance. In 1946, 23 thousand tons of fish were caught in the Aral Sea, in the 1980s this figure reached 60 thousand tons. In the Kazakh part of the Aral Sea there were 5 fish factories, 1 fish cannery, 45 fish receiving points, in the Uzbek part (Republic of Karakalpakstan) - 5 fish factories, 1 fish canning factory, more than 20 fish receiving points.

In 1989, the sea broke up into two isolated reservoirs - the North (Small) and South (Big) Aral Sea. In 2003, the surface area of ​​the Aral Sea is about a quarter of the original, and the volume of water is about 10%. By the early 2000s, the absolute sea level had dropped to 31 m, which is 22 m lower than the initial level observed in the late 1950s. Fishing was preserved only in the Small Aral, and in the Big Aral, due to its high salinity, all the fish died. In 2001, the South Aral Sea split into western and eastern parts. In 2008, exploration work was carried out in the Uzbek part of the sea (search for oil and gas fields). The contractor is the PetroAlliance company, the customer is the government of Uzbekistan. In the summer of 2009, the eastern part of the South (Big) Aral Sea dried up.

The receding sea left behind 54,000 km2 of dry seabed covered with salt and, in some places, also with deposits of pesticides and various other agricultural pesticides, once washed away by runoff from local fields. Currently, strong storms carry salt, dust and pesticides to a distance of up to 500 km. North and northeast winds have an adverse effect on the south of the Amudarya Delta, the most densely populated, economically and ecologically most important part of the entire region. Airborne sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, and sodium sulfate destroy or slow down the development of natural vegetation and crops—in a bitter irony, it is the irrigation of these crop fields that has brought the Aral Sea to its current deplorable state.

Another, very unusual problem is connected with the Renaissance Island. When it was far away at sea, the Soviet Union used it as a testing ground for bacteriological weapons. The causative agents of anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, plague, typhoid, smallpox, as well as botulinum toxin were tested here on horses, monkeys, sheep, donkeys and other laboratory animals. In 2001, as a result of water withdrawal, Vozrozhdeniye Island joined the mainland from the south side. Doctors fear that dangerous microorganisms have retained their viability, and infected rodents may become their distributors in other regions. In addition, dangerous substances can fall into the hands of terrorists. Waste and pesticides, once thrown into the water of the harbor of Aralsk, are now in full view. Severe storms carry toxic substances, as well as huge amounts of sand and salt, throughout the region, destroying crops and damaging people's health. You can read more about Renaissance Island in the article: The most terrible islands in the world

Restoration of the entire Aral Sea impossible. This would require four times the annual inflow of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya compared to the current average of 13 km3. The only possible remedy would be to reduce the irrigation of the fields, which accounts for 92% of water withdrawals. However, four of the five former Soviet republics in the Aral Sea basin (with the exception of Kazakhstan) intend to increase their farmland irrigation, mainly to feed their growing population. In this situation, switching to less moisture-loving crops, such as replacing cotton with winter wheat, would help, but the two main water-consuming countries in the region - Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan - intend to continue to grow cotton for sale abroad. It would also be possible to significantly improve the existing irrigation canals: many of them are ordinary trenches, through the walls of which a huge amount of water seeps and goes into the sand. The modernization of the entire irrigation system would help save about 12 km3 of water annually, but would cost $16 billion.

Within the framework of the project “Regulation of the bed of the Syrdarya River and the North Aral Sea” (RRRSAM), in 2003-2005, Kazakhstan built the Kokaral dam with a hydraulic gate (which allows excess water to pass to regulate the level of the reservoir), which separated the Small Aral from the the rest of the (Greater Aral). Due to this, the flow of the Syr Darya accumulates in the Small Aral, the water level here has risen to 42 m abs., salinity has decreased, which makes it possible to breed here some commercial varieties of fish. In 2007, the catch of fish in the Small Aral was 1910 tons, of which 640 tons fell to the share of flounder, the rest - freshwater species (carp, asp, pike perch, bream, catfish). It is assumed that by 2012 the catch of fish in the Small Aral will reach 10 thousand tons (in the 1980s, about 60 thousand tons were caught in the entire Aral Sea). The length of the Kokaral dam is 17 km, height 6 m, width 300 m. The cost of the first phase of the PRRSAM project amounted to $85.79 million ($65.5 million falls on a World Bank loan, the rest of the funds were allocated from the republican budget of Kazakhstan). It is assumed that an area of ​​870 square km will be covered with water, and this will allow the restoration of the flora and fauna of the Aral Sea region. In Aralsk, the Kambala Balyk fish processing plant (capacity 300 tons per year) is currently operating, located on the site of a former bakery. In 2008, it is planned to open two fish processing plants in the Aral region: Atameken Holding (design capacity 8,000 tons per year) in Aralsk and Kambash Balyk (250 tons per year) in Kamyshlybash.

Fishing is also developing in the delta of the Syr Darya. A new hydraulic structure with a capacity of more than 300 cubic meters of water per second (Aklak hydroelectric complex) was built on the channel of the Syrdarya - Karaozek, thanks to which it became possible to water lake systems that contain more than one and a half billion cubic meters of water. In 2008, the total area of ​​lakes is more than 50 thousand hectares (it is expected to increase to 80 thousand hectares), the number of lakes in the region has increased from 130 to 213. As part of the implementation of the second phase of the RRSSAM project in 2010-2015, it is planned to build a dam with a hydroelectric complex in the northern parts of the Small Aral, separate the Saryshyganak Bay and fill it with water through a specially dug channel from the mouth of the Syr Darya, bringing the water level in it to 46 m abs. It is planned to build a navigable channel from the bay to the port of Aralsk (the width of the channel along the bottom will be 100 m, length 23 km). To provide a transport link between Aralsk and the complex of facilities in the Saryshyganak Bay, the project provides for the construction of a category V highway with a length of about 50 km and a width of 8 m parallel to the former coastline of the Aral Sea.

The sad fate of the Aral begins to be repeated by other large water bodies of the world - primarily Lake Chad in Central Africa and Lake Salton Sea in the south of the US state of California. Dead tilapia fish litter the shores, and because of the immoderate water intake for irrigating the fields, the water in it is becoming saltier. Various plans are being considered to desalinate this lake. As a result of the rapid development of irrigation since the 1960s. Lake Chad in Africa has shrunk to 1/10 of its previous size. Farmers, shepherds and locals from the four countries surrounding the lake often fight fiercely among themselves for the last of the water (bottom right, blue), and the lake is today only 1.5 m deep. restoration of the Aral Sea can benefit everyone.

Once upon a time, the Aral Sea was indeed a sea. Back in the 50s of the XX century, this reservoir, located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, had an area of ​​68 thousand square meters. km. Its length was 428 km, and its width was 283 km. The maximum depth reached 68 meters. At the beginning of the 21st century, the situation was completely different. The area of ​​the reservoir was 14 thousand square meters. km, and the deepest places corresponded to only 30 meters. But the sea has not only decreased in area. It also broke up into 2 reservoirs isolated from each other. Northern became known Small Aral, and the southern Big Aral because it has more area.

20 million years ago, the Aral Sea was connected to the Caspian Sea. At the same time, at the bottom of the reservoir were discovered ancient burials dated to the middle of the 1st millennium. Therefore, the sea became shallow, and then again filled with water. Experts believe that the change in water level is subject to certain cycles. At the beginning of the 17th century, another of them began. The level began to decrease, islands formed, and some rivers stopped flowing into the reservoir.

But that didn't mean disaster. The sea, or rather a lake with salt water, since it is not connected with the World Ocean, continued to be a large body of water. Both sailing ships and steamships sailed along it. The salt lake even had its own Aral military flotilla. Her ships fired cannons and reminded the Kazakhs that they were subjects Russian emperor. In parallel, research and scientific work on the study of a huge deep reservoir.

Once the Aral Sea was a full-flowing reservoir

An alarming herald of a future tragedy was the start of the construction of irrigation canals in Central Asia. Popular enthusiasm flared up in the 30s of the XX century, but for another 30 years the reservoir was in relative safety. The water level in it was kept at the same level. Only from the beginning of the 1960s did it begin to decrease at first slowly, and then more and more rapidly. In 1961, the level decreased by 20 cm, and after 2 years by 80 cm.

In 1990, the area of ​​the reservoir was 36.8 thousand square meters. km. At the same time, the salinity of the water increased 3 times. This, of course, had a negative impact on the local flora and fauna. At all times, fishermen hunted on the sea. They caught thousands of tons of a wide variety of fish a year. Along the banks of the reservoir, fish factories, canning plants and fish receiving points worked around the clock.

In 1989, the Aral Sea ceased to exist as a whole. Having broken up into 2 reservoirs, it ceased to be a source of fishing. There are no more fish in the Big Aral today. She all died because of high concentration salt. Fish are caught only in the Small Aral, but in comparison with the past abundance, these are tears.

The reason for the drying up of the Aral Sea

The fact that the Aral ceased to exist as a full-flowing reservoir - a big problem especially for those people who live along its shores. The fishing industry is practically destroyed. As a result, people lost their jobs. This is a tragedy for the natives. And it is aggravated by the fact that the fish that is still found in the lake is “stuffed” with pesticides above any norm. This is not good for people's health.

But why did the tragedy happen, what is the reason for the drying up of the Aral Sea? Most experts point to the wrong distribution of those water resources which have fed the Aral Sea at all times. The main water sources were the Amudarya and Syrdarya. In the year they gave the reservoir 60 cubic meters. km of water. Today this figure is 5 cubic meters. km per year.

This is what the Aral Sea looks like on the map today
It broke up into two reservoirs: the Small Aral and the Big Aral

These Central Asian rivers start their journey in the mountains and flow through such states as Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Since the 1950s, river flows have been diverted to irrigate agricultural land. This also applied to the main rivers and their tributaries. According to the original project, people wanted to irrigate up to 60 million hectares of land. But taking into account water losses and irrational use of diverted flows, 10 million hectares are irrigated. Almost 70% of the withdrawn water is lost in the sands. It does not fall either on the fields or in the Aral Sea.

But there are, naturally, supporters of other theories. Someone sees the reason in the destruction of the bottom layers of the reservoir. As a result, water flows into the Caspian Sea and other lakes. Some experts sin on the global climate change of the blue planet. They also talk about the negative processes going on in the glaciers. They are mineralized, which has a deplorable effect on the Syrdarya and Amudarya. After all, they originate from mountain streams.

Climate change in the Aral Sea region

In the 21st century, the process of changing climatic conditions in the Aral Sea region began. It largely depended on the huge water mass. The Aral Sea was a natural regulator. It softened the cold of the Siberian winds and reduced the summer temperature to a comfortable level. Today, the summer has become dry, and a significant drop in temperature is observed already in August. Accordingly, the vegetation dies, which does not affect the livestock in the best way.

But if everything was limited to the Aral Sea region, then the problem would not look so global. However, the drying up reservoir affects a much larger area. The fact is that powerful air currents pass over the Aral Sea. They raise thousands of tons of a dangerous mixture of salt, chemicals and poisonous dust from the bare bottom. All this gets into the high layers of the atmosphere and spreads not only over the territory of Asia, but also over Europe. These are whole salt streams that move high in the air. With precipitation, they fall to the ground and kill all living things.

Once upon a time, the sea splashed in this place

Today, the Aral Sea region is known throughout the world as a territory subject to ecological disaster . However, the states of Central Asia and the international community are concerned not with the restoration of the reservoir, but with smoothing the conflict situation, which arose as a result of its drying. Money is allocated to maintain the living standards of the population, to preserve infrastructure, which is only a consequence, but not the cause of the tragedy.

One cannot discount the fact that the Aral Sea is located on a territory rich in natural gas and oil. International corporations have been conducting geological developments in this area for a long time. If global investment flows like water, then local officials will become very rich people. But it will not bring any benefit to a dying reservoir. Most likely, the situation will become even worse, and the ecological situation will worsen.

Yuri Syromyatnikov

“I wanted to know more about this natural disaster, so I decided to dedicate this post to the once fourth largest lake in the world ...

You probably noticed that I called the Aral Sea a lake? And I was not mistaken, it really is a drainless salt lake, and by tradition it is attributed to the sea because of its large size, like the “neighboring” Caspian Lake. By the way, they are both remnants of the ancient, now defunct, Tethys Ocean.

And a little geography for those who don't know where is the Aral Sea, I explain: it is located in Central Asia, on the border of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

The drying process of the Aral began in the 1980s. The beginning of its end is considered to be the 1960s, when active development began in the then Central Asian Soviet republics - Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Agriculture, including cotton growing, for which they began to actively divert water from the Syrdarya and Amudarya rivers feeding the lake through canals for irrigation.

As a result of the constant increase in the volume of water diversion from the rivers, by 2009 the Aral Sea left the cities that in the past stood on its shores for tens of kilometers, and split into two isolated reservoirs.

The first is the North or Small Aral Sea (located on the territory of Kazakhstan), and the second is the South or Big Aral Sea (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan).

Problems of the Aral Sea

The drying up of the sea affected the entire region of its former water area as a whole: ports were closed, commercial fishing stopped, as the salinity of the water increased almost 10 times, and many species of flora and fauna could not survive in the dramatically changed conditions. The climate of the Aral Sea has also changed - winter has become colder and longer, and summer - even drier and hotter.

In addition, the winds carry a huge amount of dust from the drained territories, containing and sea ​​salt, and pesticides and many more chemicals. This is one of the main causes of high mortality among the inhabitants of the region, especially among children.

What to do? How to save the Aral Sea?

Many experts thought about ways to solve the problem of the shallowing of the Aral Sea, but apart from the "crazy" Soviet project to turn several Siberian rivers, there were no other options. But since this turn will entail very serious environmental impact for many regions of our Siberia, there are no chances for its implementation.

The only real steps to save the Aral Sea and the economy of the region as a whole are now being taken only by the authorities of Kazakhstan. True, they decided to save only the Small Aral, that is, the northern part of the sea, which is completely located on the territory of their country.

In 2005, the construction of the 17-kilometer Kokaral dam, 6 meters high and about 300 meters wide, was completed, which fenced off the Northern Aral from the rest of the sea.

Because of this, the flow of the Syrdarya River now accumulates only in this reservoir, due to which the water level is gradually rising. This made it possible not only to reduce the salinity of the water, but also to breed commercial varieties of fish in the Northern Aral. And in the future, this should also help in restoring the flora and fauna of the Aral Sea region.

Also, in the near future, the Kazakh authorities want to build here in the Small Aral a dam with a hydroelectric complex and a navigable canal, thanks to which it is planned to connect the former port of Aralsk with the departed large water.

Well, the Great Aral Sea, located on the territory of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, was less fortunate. No one is involved in its rescue, and most likely in the next decade it will disappear altogether from the maps.