Fixing the Aral sea

[James the Red]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hu0Hr9eS_g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukwAj...eature=related

OK, the Aral sea... How does Humanity go about fixing it so that it is restored to the way it was?

[hellheaven1987]

I don't care, seriously. Someone around there would do it, before the local take up AK and storm their own capitals.

[Aetius]

Needs moar water, also less cotton monoculture.

Here is my MSPAINT solution;




^Too bad thats insanely expensive.

You can thank the USSR for all this.

[The Fishman]

I don't care, seriously. Someone around there would do it, before the local take up AK and storm their own capitals.

Yeah, 'I don't care' is suuuuuuuuch a good answer to other people's suffering! I hope the ones who are actually in charge of this world are people with more compassion...

[hellheaven1987]

Yeah, 'I don't care' is suuuuuuuuch a good answer to other people's suffering! I hope the ones who are actually in charge of this world are people with more compassion...

Fine, then you go and do it now instead blaming politicians.

[Babur]

well I mentioned this a while back that it was the Soviet Union's disastrous policies which helped to nearly destroy the Aral Sea.

I guess it isn't only capitalists which destroy the environment eh?

[removeduser_487563287433]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hu0Hr9eS_g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukwAj...eature=related

OK, the Aral sea... How does Humanity go about fixing it so that it is restored to the way it was?

Do a deal with the Dutch.

[ivan_the_terrible]

The Soviet Union certainly played its part in that.

There was some complete lunacy in Soviet agriculture sometimes. Like Khruschev and his damned corn.

[Babur]

The Soviet Union certainly played its part in that.

There was some complete lunacy in Soviet agriculture sometimes. Like Khruschev and his damned corn.

he got obsessed with growing corn after his visit to the US right?

don't forget that cotton needs quite a bit of water, so much of this water was diverted for that too.

I hope lessons can learned from this, because I think in future we will have to manage water resources in a better way especially with a growing population.

[hellheaven1987]

Hmm... so how can a salt lake contribute to agriculture?? By killing the plants??

[Babur]

Hmm... so how can a salt lake contribute to agriculture?? By killing the plants??

the rivers which fed the Aral Sea, much of the water was diverted for these cotton plants

[ivan_the_terrible]

he got obsessed with growing corn after his visit to the US right?

don't forget that cotton needs quite a bit of water, so much of this water was diverted for that too.

I hope lessons can learned from this, because I think in future we will have to manage water resources in a better way especially with a growing population.

Yes it was one of his little 'points'.

While the decline of the lake is regrettable, of course, it's fortunate that it does not ruin *that* many livelihoods - the area around it has always been inhospitable semi-desert, which means practically no farming.

The diversion of the rivers has been done for millenia in the area too, because farmers cannot rely on rainfall alone. Just the scale to which the USSR was able to do it was bigger than before.

Water management is a major political issue today too. For example, rivers flowing from Kyrgyzstan (and the electricity they produce) are a principal source of income for the country, for lack of minerals and other natural resources (not to mention the complete dismembement of indsutries in the early 90s), and they use it to bargain with Uzbekistan for their gas.

When mismanagement occurs (which it does almost every year), there are consequences. For example, last summer the Kyrgyz govt sold too much water, which means that they don't have enough to produce electricity. The result is mass powercuts all over the country for 12+ hours a day, during winter. You can imagine how hard it is to get by for most people.

[Babur]

Yes it was one of his little 'points'.

yes

While the decline of the lake is regrettable, of course, it's fortunate that it does not ruin *that* many livelihoods - the area around it has always been inhospitable semi-desert, which means practically no farming.

yeah but didn't there used to be a thriving fishing industry on the Aral Sea at one time?

The diversion of the rivers has been done for millenia in the area too, because farmers cannot rely on rainfall alone. Just the scale to which the USSR was able to do it was bigger than before.

well dunno if it is reversible

Water management is a major political issue today too. For example, rivers flowing from Kyrgyzstan (and the electricity they produce) are a principal source of income for the country, for lack of minerals and other natural resources (not to mention the complete dismembement of indsutries in the early 90s), and they use it to bargain with Uzbekistan for their gas.

When mismanagement occurs (which it does almost every year), there are consequences. For example, last summer the Kyrgyz govt sold too much water, which means that they don't have enough to produce electricity. The result is mass powercuts all over the country for 12+ hours a day, during winter. You can imagine how hard it is to get by for most people.

shame really, are there any plans to resuscitate the Aral Sea though?

[ivan_the_terrible]

yeah but didn't there used to be a thriving fishing industry on the Aral Sea at one time?

Yes, there was. I meant that it's fortunate that the land around it has always been arid, and thus sparsely populated, so that its decline at least didn't affect too many people (except the fishermen, of course).

well dunno if it is reversible

shame really, are there any plans to resuscitate the Aral Sea though?

I really doubt it. Even if those countries managed to find some funding for it, it would probably all be stolen through corruption. Of course I'd like to see it fixed, but in my opinion there are more important things to fix first.

[CarbEast]

The Soviet Union certainly played its part in that.

There was some complete lunacy in Soviet agriculture sometimes. Like Khruschev and his damned corn.

Actually corn played a lot better role in Soviet agriculture than it usually thought it did. While in many places where it was cultivated corn didn't ripen so it really wasn't of much use as food source for people, it played *very* important role as food for cattle. Prior to Khruschev's massive introduction of corn, cattle in Soviet Union used to be heavily underfed during winters and ended up half dead by spring every year (not because there wasn't enough food in volume, but because it had limited nutritional value). So while corn wasn't complete success, it was far from complete lunacy either. Corn is still in use countrywide, including areas where it can't ripen completely.

[Erik]

There was some complete lunacy in Soviet agriculture sometimes. Like Khruschev and his damned corn.

Yeah, they should have just let millions of people starve to death in famines, and live in absolute poverty.
Line the Czars did.

Is there any need to restore it? Do local populations live off of it, or could the local region be aided if it somehow returned to its natural state?

The local fishing industry suffers.
But the cotton industry thrives.

I'd rather be a cotton farmer than a fisherman, but that's just a personal choice.

[James the Red]

The local fishing industry suffers.
But the cotton industry thrives.

I'd rather be a cotton farmer than a fisherman, but that's just a personal choice.

What they should do is start growing a crop that needs less water than cotton. Then they could start diverting less water from the rivers.

They could have agriculture and a sea if water is used wisely.

[Koblentz]

The Aral Sea is not like the oceans in that it has almost infinite opportunities to replace water lost from evaporation, ground soak, etc. If you divert the supply of replacement water to agriculture before it reaches the sea, it will eventually start to shrink.

At this point, the sea is probably too far gone for a recovery to work. I imagine the ecosystem that it once supported is nearly destroyed.

[James the Red]

At this point, the sea is probably too far gone for a recovery to work. I imagine the ecosystem that it once supported is nearly destroyed.

A new ecosystem could be made though by introducing animals and water plants from the Caspian I guess once the water levels rise.

[James the Red]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOfEq...eature=related

According to that, the dried up lake is very hazardous, negatively effecting over 5 million people.

However, this video is more recent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAUyddi_5j8
And it shows that water levels have risen and the sea is starting to comeback in the Kazakhstan part.