Aral Sea Catastrophe

Death of Aral Sea, winds rise and spread the bottom salt on hundreds of kilometers around.
Aral a once-large saltwater lake straddling the boundary between Kazakstan to the north and Uzbekistan to the south. The shallow Aral Sea was formerly the world's fourth largest body of inland water. It nestles in the climatically inhospitable heart of Central Asia, to the east of the Caspian Sea. The Aral Sea is of great interest and increasing concern to scientists because of the remarkable shrinkage of its area and volume in the second half of the 20th century. This change is due primarily to the diversion (for purposes of irrigation) of the riverine waters of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya, which discharge into the Aral Sea and are its main sources of inflowing water.
The sea's northern shore-high in some places, low in others-was indented by several large bays. The low-lying and irregular eastern shores were interrupted in the north by the huge delta of the Syr Darya and in the south were bordered by a wide tract of shallow water. The equally vast Amu Darya delta lay on the lake's southern shore, and along the lake's western periphery extended the almost unbroken eastern edge of the 820-foot- (250-metre-) high Ustyurt Plateau.
Shrinkage of the Aral Sea, 1960--99.From about 1960 the Aral Sea's water level was systematically and drastically reduced because of the diversion of water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for purposes of agricultural irrigation. As the Soviet government converted large acreages of pastures or untilled lands in Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Turkmenistan, and elsewhere into irrigated farmlands by using the waters of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, the amount of water from these rivers that reached the Aral Sea dropped accordingly. By the 1980s, during the summer months, the two great rivers virtually dried up before they reached the lake. The Aral Sea began to quickly shrink because of the evaporation of its now-unreplenished waters.
By the late 1980s, the lake had lost more than half the volume of its water. The salt and mineral content of the lake rose drastically because of this, making the water unfit for drinking purposes and killing off the once-abundant supplies of sturgeon, carp, barbel, roach, and other fishes in the lake. The fishing industry along the Aral Sea was thus virtually destroyed. The ports of Aral in the northeast and Mŭynoq in the south were now many miles from the lake's shore. A partial depopulation of the areas along the lake's former shoreline ensued. The contraction of the Aral Sea also made the local climate noticeably harsher, with more extreme winter and summer temperatures.
By 1989 the Aral Sea had receded to form two separate parts, the "Greater Sea" in the south and the "Lesser Sea" in the north, each of which had a salinity almost triple that of the sea in the 1950s.
In the late 1990s an island in the Aral Sea, Vozrozhdenya, became the centre of environmental concern. This was of special concern because Vozrozhdenya had been a testing ground for Soviet biological weapons during the Cold War. In addition to testing done there on such agents as tularemia and the bubonic plague, hundreds of tons of live anthrax bacteria were buried on the island in the 1980s. In 1999 still-living anthrax spores were discovered on the site, and scientists feared that when the island was no longer surrounded by water, land vertebrates could carry anthrax to populated areas.
Other environmental problems plagued the region as well. By the end of the century the Aral had receded into three separate lakes. The level of the sea had dropped to 125 feet (36 metres) above sea level, and the water volume was reduced by 75 percent of what it had been in 1960. Almost no water from the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya reached the sea, and, unless drastic action were taken, it seemed likely that the Aral Sea could disappear within 20 to 30 years, leaving a large desert in its place. The health costs to people living in the area were beginning to emerge. Hardest hit were the Karakalpaks, who live in the southern portion of the region. Exposed seabeds led to dust storms that blew across the region, carrying a toxic dust contaminated with salt, fertilizer, and pesticides. Health problems occurred at unusually high rates-from throat cancers to anemia and kidney diseases. Infant mortality in the region was among the highest in the world.
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[@decouvrirlavie]

For those who want to learn more: For the past 2+ years, our team have been working on a documentary series exploring the past, present, and future of the Aral Sea. The trailer has just gone live on our channel! Thanks for this debashir!

[@TheJohhnyrotten]

This should be on the main news EVERY NIGHT, not in some obscure corner of you tube

[@ItsBillyBoss]

thanks for the great vid, great song and breathtaking view of the destruction

[@MaestroTJS]

I stumbled on the Aral Sea catastrophe completely by accident but have been researching it since then. Apparently the south-east portion has dried up and the areas to the north and west are separated. It completely blew my mind that such an enormous body of water could disappear the way it has. It is also very disappointing to see that this has had virtually no media coverage at all in the West/North America. I know it's not "our" problem, but it could be a wake-up call to us.

[@debashir]

Good luck in all your endeavors, my friend.

[@mikethemike232]

A beautiful clip - almost too beautiful for the catastrophe it shows.

[@debashir]

@monster4josh, you are welcome! It's me who must express his gratitude, I'm glad you liked the video, seriously.

[@debashir]

I'm glad you liked it!

[@shelpek]

good job man

[@JessicaTG2008]

I have been reading about this recently. What a shame and exactly the outcome you would expect from human intervention. The even more saddening part aside from the lost lives, industry and grandeur of the lake itself, is if man could reverse and bring it back to it's previous level, it will take 100s of years to even be sustainable for basic life. It amazes me to no end, the more educated humans get, computerized and techologically dependant we are, we are as immature as infants in real life.

[@renegadeshai]

One of the rivers is back in (on the Kazakstan side) and it feels back up slowly :)

[@Khamomil]

@m3850d Thanks for the info. The populations that depended on the Aral sea would benefit if it was full again, needless to say. All the culture of fishing etc. When I see the young living in poverty amidst the hulls of the ships it breaks my heart. The influence on climate that the Sea had is also very beneficial even in distant lands. People would be willing to do the work of fixing the irrigation channels, a consensus is needed from all concerned and the funds too.

[@stifawn2025]

Wow you guys are good. How original polution

[@TIROPERAURBANA]

Desolation is the future for all the people in this world, if the politycal men don't change his mind... Thanks for this vibrant video

[@LouisWilde]

this video is quite shocking....liked it, and the music too( i now the song is mutter from rammstein, but could somebody tell me the title of the remix, or where could i dl it? thx anyway)

[@whooperpooper86]

i wish you had more ship footage

[@LusyBeaufort]

very sad to watch the end (near end) of the once so beautiful and great place.

[@dyingangelo]

its really hard to believe this thing happened... this is so sad

[@Khamomil]

How can the Aral Sea replenish itself unless the 2 big rivers that feed it are allowed again instead of diverting their waters for irrigation? Is cotton still being grown in the river basins? What a disaster. The sea bottom doesn't let anything grow. Was the water salt or sweet?

[@MrGingerwarrior2u]

I was out there in 2008 and the last two boats were being cut up and stolen for scrap.. there is a lot of mis-information about the levels rising again.. we met the guy who was responsible for taking the measurements and had lunch in his house.. see my Kazakhstan slide show vid for more..

[@australianmade74]

was this fresh water?

[@Komnenit]

@live4eversqn Dont Worry. Kazakhstan and its government is helping for saving the Northern Aral Sea, which is growing and is being saved from complete drying....I cant say the same for the South Aral Sea, which is drying more and more every year...

[@jammydodger5000]

now that's food for thought

[@MaestroTJS]

@LegoGuy87 I think the South is gone for good....Certainly it is hard or impossible to imagine it returning to its former size, anyway.

[@MrBuckwilliam]

truly horrifying!!! we are dooming ourselves. if this can happen here it can happen anywhere. lakes huron, ontario, michigan, erie and st.clair... great slave, winnipeg. it scares the shit outta me... a whole planet of dry lake beds. thank you for sharing this one debashir... btw, lake huron has dropped at least six feet in the last six years, evaporation they say

[@FunnyDigestion]

Spending a lot of time on those sunken ships, kinda makes everything look cooler than it really is-- I mean, most of the land is just empty wasteland, not badass dead galleons and stuff.. Nice video though

[@Ashmansworth]

Amazing, go to Google map key in "Aral Sea" the map shows all of the sea is there, now click to Satelite . and "poof" its gone, back to map, then to satelite? wounder why they have done that?

[@Terabass]

"Until it's not too late" . Epic fail

[@IanHunedoara8]

Looks like a nightmarish futuristic movie scenario except for the fact its real and now.

[@achilleskocaeli]

unbelievable

[@Ashvegian]

I feel a little bit like a perverted/stalker/insane murderer due to your camera-work..from low angles and looking out of crevices...it's really sifty... by the soundtrack is very groovy though. cheers debashir

[@patladj]

Two planets meet and ask each other: - Oh, how blue and green you are!!! - says the first one. - Why are so grey and faded? - asks the other one. - Phew...! - answers the first one - horrible, if you know I caught humans :D - Don't worry it goes away quickly, no more then several thousand years :D I also had humans recently :D

[@davazno1]

This is disaster ?!?! Wait untill the world population reaches 15 billion people, than you'll see disasters like never before .

[@ulverup]

@XDTheKingKingTheXD t think the song is " mutter " not seeman

[@NYyankeeboi]

@seze6624 Your totally right, that is one of the most intelligent comments I have read on youtube.

[@nicholaskelly7519]

It is impossible to overstate the damage done to the Aral by the Central Committee of The USSR. The "Virgin Lands" schemes of the 1950's led to this trouble was that "The First" (Nitika Khrushchev) always knew best (or so he thought) . By damming and controlling both the Amu Daya and the Saya Daya to grow water hungry cash crops like cotton meant that the supply of water to the Aral was lost in the cotton fields and indeed in the sands of the deserts and for what exactly? some years ago I meet someone from Aral'sk and he told me that in the 1950's the town was a busy port today the remains of the Aral are some 60 miles /100 Km away! The Aral was also The Major Source of Fish in the Southern USSR and during the Post WW I/ October Revolution Civil War choas (1917-1922) shortages of coal and oil led to dried Aral fish being used to fire steam locomotives! As the Aral died it has left an evil sting the salts left behind have been blown by the wind for hundreds of miles causing an epidemic of serious lung disease. I was also told that the ground water in Aral'sk is now so toxic you cannot use it for any purpose let alone drink it! It could have been worse for if the scheme to re fill the Aral from the Ob River Basin had gone ahead I suspect things would have been catastrophic on a planetary scale. Thankfully the Central Committee of The USSR listened to the ecological and geological aguements against the project (helped of course by the vast financial cost of the enterprise!) Thankfully the project was abandonned. On all levels though the situation is dire enough and even if the Amu & Saya Daya are allowed to flow freely again it will take many years for the Aral to recover (if indeed it can). Sadly however the Aral is not the only endorheic basin that is seriously threatened by human activity. As in Africa Lake Chad has suffered a similar fate mainly due to water extraction from the Chari river. Whilst in Asia Balkash is under threat and hopefully the Kazakhstan Government having seen what has happened to the Aral will prevent Balkash going the same way! You can also see ships on a dry lake bed in Iranian Azerbaijan as Urmia is also drying out. Again to much demand for water has meant that what is available is not getting into the lake. In China Qinghai(Koko Nuur) has also been abused but things are looking hopefull here as water demand has curtailed and over recent years the level of the lake has risen. The main reason for doing something about water usage here is that Qinghai is the major source of fish in the region.

[@doctortabby]

I must say that I do get very tired of the environmental extremists; however I suppose such sickening examples environmental irresponibility (to use a kind term) as demonstrated here are bound to spawn such an attitude of overkill in many individuals. What has happened to the Aral is simply a crime against humanity and everything else good. Thanks for such a nice attention grabbing and interest keeping post. Do you have any more footage of when the Aral was in a healthier state?

[@AZOOZ8802]

سبحانه وتعالى خلق الأرض بنظام متوازن، ومن الآيات العظيمة قوله تعالى: (وَهُوَ الَّذِي مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ هَذَا عَذْبٌ فُرَاتٌ وَهَذَا مِلْحٌ أُجَاجٌ وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخًا وَحِجْرًا مَحْجُورًا) [الفرقان: 53].

[@debashir]

One dam has been built already other dam is on the turn, costing around 80-100 millions backs each, they only help to sustain the water level in Lesser Aral due to evaporation loss, southern bigger Aral is ireversibly dead. Kazakstan would be right spell btw.

[@user-wv1bv3lq3y]

о судно с названием БРЕСТ это мой родной город )

[@90NITRO]

mamma mia ...

[@gentedimare84]

it looks like kenshiro's world

[@andykld]

it's sad :(

[@locopazzo]

@skamp25 ....maybe it be da ice cap melting thing ...the o-zone in da sky

[@Nataly3576]

I liked the video,humans are idots.Can you tell me what is the song you used? :)

[@Fayren18]

yeaaa how r we suppose to save the aral sea?

[@garioldwin]

until human's exist nothing can be done to stop this . the nature will recover after we are gone .

[@lq91]

it's shocking how the desert-looking landscape used to be the seabed . SIGHS. ):

[@locopazzo]

..that's what comes from over fishing alas...

[@joldasbaevilxam6582]

ех Аралым кайта оралса еди

[@live4eversqn]

disaster! I must see the lake myself before it will dissapear completely!

[@explorador26]

lo mismo querían hacer con el lago Titicaca

[@rinconsurfers]

its true what a wise man once said "The world will be at peace once the last human has died" Its alittle extreme but fuck its the truth

[@chanctonbury63]

@andell1 Im talking about the Aral Sea and that ones down to Soviet planning.

[@MrBubba1800]

This is an amazing part of the world; one that few westerners ever see. It is rich in so many ways. This has been a world-wide dynamic; for the sake of great fortunes they destroy the world. Today they have just begun to exploit their natural gas reserves; wait for the news on that my friends, fifty years from now. Yes massive reserves to be piped to India. Who will grow rich from this? It will not be the weavers of rugs... No matter where on this earth you live live, in time, you too will feel

[@anilalay4695]

What is this song's name?

[@debashir]

+anil alay Rammstein - Mutter (Violin Mix) by Sixtynine (Vis Vitalis)

[@anilalay4695]

Violin Mix ha. ok thanks debashir.

[@debashir]

+anil alay you are welcome, my friend.

[@FreeFalcon2]

I'm starting to believe is too late too save our planet, ourselves and that this is just the beginning of the end. :( But anyway, I guess we don't lose anything by trying, right?

[@locopazzo]

There are actually efforts being made to reverse this desertification. The Kazakh government with an international team has put forward a promissing plan consisting in a series of dams athat have proved succesful in rising water levels. Repopulation however is still an issue. Saline levels are high for sustainable life. This is not the only disaster inherited from Soviet times in Kazakhstan....what a about contamination in Semipalatinsk?!

[@cryteeek]

Rammstein !!

[@kittylactose]

i thought the area is now a now a toxic wasteland and you need a gas mask or something, but the part where the guys were driving in the car had no breathing protection.

[@mojave19]

It's happening again in California's Salton Sea.

[@iamx80]

it's too late

[@harryandruschak2843]

"Always look on the Brightside of live!" Nobody is blaming this on global warming/climate change :)

[@zeze321147]

im ready to pay to save it

[@onceANexile]

THIS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU IRRIGATE COTTON...

[@fixit4u73]

In USA, ship owners would be fined for littering :)

[@debashir]

+Bushwacker as far as I know those ships are not there anymore, they've been utilized by local folks for a metal. Which is sad news, because those ships were attracting tourists from all around the world.

[@BoneThugsss]

hey, google earth sucks, in google earth it seems like the big aral is getting back but its fake, the big aral now is getting every day thinner, only the small aral is getting bigger, so the satelllite foto of the big aral is very old

[@chanctonbury63]

Good old Soviet central planning. Nothing quite like it!

[@antred11]

@SvenTviking True, but the jury is still out on whether we're really any better than the commies in that regard ...

[@hyperkid321]

usally i will disagree on this type of docmentary in this type of style but no shit

[@alantsm]

its the soviets fault.

[@redjupiter2]

@SPECTORMAN1973 As long as any human thinks he is above another (as you do) this will happen. Do you really not see the massive irony in your own uneducated statements?

[@ZombieDawgs]

bfffhahahaha no.

[@SvenTviking]

Its like the communists used to find the most utterly incompetant people and gave them the most important jobs.

[@jayeshchoudhari6097]

@SavingJackSparrow you just blamed it to Evil and greed of people...but isn't it ironic..it was the soviets..the communists who are responsible for this catastrophe who formed their government saying that they are against the EVIL and GREEDY capitalist countries.....

[@dominatordan]

WTF are you talking about, mali9ski? The water was diverted to the cotton fields so the Soviet Elite could get rich selling it, not the poor fisherman of the area. And speaking of nuclear testing, at least we stopped at 15 megatons, the Soviets let loose the largest hydrogen weapon ever tested: 54 megatons in Siberia. And lets not even get into the Anthrax production and testing on Vozrozhdeniye Island, right there in the Aral Sea! Now being exposed by the loss of the sea!

[@LightsEShadows]

nope about money, but about tipical comunist f... crazy policy, with no matter about human life and security or environment. Chernobyl, Mayak, Aral etc.

[@mali9ski]

yes and a disaster but it was an attempt to improve the lives of the people of that place unfortunately failed! but the USA was in a bikini atoll of destruction! yankees look at what you do well

[@LightsEShadows]

typical Toxic Comunism's sh*t.

[@jayeshchoudhari6097]

So sad...dumb soviets

[@stevemartin4696]

Dont worry people, Donald Trump assures us that we are NOT Fucking up our planet!

[@mitchbatten8281]

Steve Martin , 3 months ago you were obviously retarded, have you gotten any smarter since then?

[@antiquesroadshow101]

retarted generalizers, both of you. Russians and americans have made their equal shares in mistakes, but were all Earthlings as a whole. We all need to start embracing that fact.