The money recovers part of the Aral sea

2007/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Hidrologia
• Ingurumena

The United Nations has affirmed that the desiccation of the Aral Sea has been the main environmental damage caused by man. The sea has not completely dried up, but has lost enough water to unfold what was a single sea and the drying has not been left. To turn the situation around, the World Bank granted a loan to the government of Kazakhstan in the past decade and will now give it a second. That money has put the northern part of the sea on track, but the southern part, the largest, continues to dry up.

The Aral Sea began to dry up because no water came from it; the Soviets diverted the two main sources, the Sir Daria and Amu Daria rivers. Since then, diverted water has been used primarily for the irrigation of cotton from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the economic base of both republics.

The divers helped the economy, but caused the desiccation of the Aral Sea, which became a critical situation, for example, the fishermen were left without sea. The problem had to be solved.

With the first loan granted by the World Bank to the government of Kazakhstan, of 65 million dollars, the Sir Daria River was redirected, which today brings water to the sea of Aral, the northern part of the sea. In addition, irrigation systems were improved and the north and south sections were distributed with the construction of a reservoir.

These measures had a great success. In the short term, the northern section began to recover water. The water was returned, the salinity of the water was recovered, many marine species were returned and the fishermen retook the fishing.

Now, the World Bank has granted a second loan to the government of Kazakhstan, higher than the previous one, amounting to 128 million dollars. The government is investigating the best way to use this money, supposedly the northern part has the possibility of recovering it completely.

But most of the Aral Sea is southern and, to recover the Aral Sea, we must also recover the southern part. To do this, it is necessary to get the Sir Daria and Amu Daria rivers to return to the sea all the water they poured into the Aral Sea, but the dependence of cotton makes it impossible.

In the upper picture are the two parts of the Aral sea. The north resembles three intertwined lakes, with dark green water, almost black. The southern one is formed by two long lakes, joined together; the left ibón is dark green and, as the seabed is seen, the green of the right lake is clearer. The photo dates from 2003 (since then the northern part has increased and the southern part has decreased). The black line seen represents the border between the two republics. The top is Kazakhstan and the bottom is Uzbekistan.