Drying of the Aral Sea. One of the worst environmental disasters of our time!

The Aral Sea is called the once large, and now almost dry, salt lake, which today looks like a large salt desert. Its drying is considered one of the most ambitious environmental disasters of our time, because only 50 years ago it was one of the four largest lakes on our planet.

The process of the disappearance of the lake began in 1961 and was very rapid: in a day the water decreased several tens of meters from the coast. First, the lake was divided into 2 reservoirs - Small and Big Aral. To date, the Great Aral is divided into several small reservoirs as a result of drying.

There are many theories of the extinction of the Aral Sea. One of them is tests of secret weapons, which led to the formation of a geological fault through which the waters of the lake could go into the Caspian Sea, located below.

Nevertheless, most researchers are inclined to another reason - the USSR’s plan to transform the Central Asian republics into the largest cotton producers, launched in the 1950s. Water for irrigation too dry and unsuitable for this purpose territories began to be taken precisely from the main tributaries of the Aral Lake - Syr Darya and Amu Darya.

Because of this, most of the water generally ceased to reach the very "sea".

As a result of a decrease in fresh water and an increase in salt concentration in the lake, a huge number of animals and plants died.

The bottom of the lake turned into a sandy desert, covered with salt and pesticides from cotton plantations. And strong winds have caused sandstorms that are hazardous to health. About 75 million tons of salt erode in this place every year.

Dust storms lead to the fact that even more water is required for irrigation, and this, in turn, closes the circle and causes the rapid disappearance of the Aral Sea.

At the same time, the drying up of the lake had a profound effect on the local climate, making it sharply continental with long cold winters and dry sultry summers.

In addition, such an environmental disaster poses another mortal threat. In Soviet times, the Renaissance Island was a testing ground for biological weapons. Today, the combination of these lands with the rest of the land can cause the unhindered spread of deadly bacteria.

At first, no one spoke of a serious disaster, the information became public only in the 80s, during the period of publicity. However, this did not affect the course of events.

Along with this Soviet plan, one more destructive intention was nearly realized - to turn back the Siberian rivers in order to replenish their waters with the drying Aral and water them with new cotton plantations. The project, fortunately, was not implemented.

Despite the deplorable situation, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan do not plan to reduce the area of cotton plantations, which bring the bulk of the income to these countries.

Another snag in solving the problem is that the Aral Sea belongs to two states at once, which do not intend to act together.

It should be noted that this problem worries the entire civilized world. The legendary rock band Pink Floyd even dedicated a song to this environmental disaster.