How Greed and Incompetence Dried Up One Of The Worlds Biggest Lakes | Time Travels

This is one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century, and few have even heard of it

How do you turn the world's fourth largest lake, a natural reservoir that sustained many countries and regions, into a desolate, toxic wasteland

Well, after decades of mismanagement, the Soviet Union found a way. Before 1960, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake on the planet

covering almost 67,000 square kilometres and providing food and employment for hundreds of thousands in Central Asia

and millions across the Soviet Union. In the 1950s, the lake provided a full tenth of the Soviet Union's fish

and was a defining feature of the Central Asian landscape. Now, though, after what the United Nations Development Programme called

the most staggering disaster of the 20th century, things are very different

The sea that was once teeming with fish and people is little more than a barren desert

with swirling clouds of toxic chemical dust sweeping over the people that still live on the border of the old sea

The fishing fleets that used to ply the waters now sit abandoned in the sands

still moored to the docks that have long since seen their water disappear

As for the millions that once relied on the lake, well, they've been left behind

Cancers and sickness ravaged the region as the waters that once fed the lake are diverted to feed the farms built by the Soviet government more than half a century ago

Hello time travellers, I'm your friend Mike Brady and this is the story of how greed and cotton ruined the Aral Sea

the Soviet Union was a vast sprawling superpower but its center of power had always been over in

the west where big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg flourished this was where the majority

of the population lived, where the capital was and where the most productive lands were

Despite the relative prosperity of the West, things were very different over in the East

The lack of development in Central Asia was a major sticking point for the Soviet government

In 1959, they came up with a plan that would revolutionise the region

The plan called for increased attention in the East. The area around the Aral Sea would become

a major agricultural hub through a vast irrigation project that would fertilize the fields of

Uzbekistan. Cotton was landed upon as the perfect thing to grow in the region, as the climate was

suitable, it was a versatile and valuable crop, and it could be used within the USSR, but was also

suitable for export. Work on the irrigation project began soon afterwards. By the 1960s

the first of the Uzbek cotton was being grown, watered by the rivers that once fed the Aral Sea

Now, the issue is that cotton requires a massive amount of water to grow

In order to irrigate the Central Asian cotton fields, the Soviet Union diverted the course of the Aral Sea's main tributary rivers

the Amu and the Sur. Now, this was successful for a time

In the 1980s, Uzbekistan became the world's largest producer of cotton. The local economy shifted entirely

towards the production of the crop, and to this day cotton is a major export of Uzbekistan The growth was massive In just 20 years Central Asia cotton production

had reached over 9 million tonnes annually. The USSR was driven by a desire to become

the largest producer of cotton in the world, never mind the consequences

But then something disastrous started to happen. The Aral Sea was disappearing before the eyes of its people

The diverting of the rivers had deprived the lake of the water it needed to survive

It seems shocking, but the vanishing of the Aral Sea was not a surprise to the Soviet government

It was fully understood at the time that the rivers they were diverting provided the overwhelming

majority of the water in the lake, while rain would not give nearly enough to maintain the

water levels. Now, they knew the cs would cause a drastic drop in the water level and eventually destroy

the lake entirely. But despite these issues, the Soviets continued with the plan

Growing the economy of Central Asia with a valuable crop like cotton was considered worth the cost of destroying the lake

The fishing and the ecology of the region was simply the sacrifice that would have to be made

What the Soviets didn't count on, though, was the sheer scale of the disaster they were setting up

They thought the worst that could happen was that the lake might simply dry up. But they were horribly, horribly wrong

To add insult to ecological injury, the cs that were dug to divert water from the Aral Sea

weren't even particularly well made and had massive water losses through evaporation and soaking into the desert

Now, the exact amount of water that was lost can't be known for sure, but modern estimates put the cs dug in the 60s as leaving between 25 and 75 percent of the water that was diverted

depending on the time period. The Karakum C in Turkmenistan is built entirely atop loose sand that the water simply sinks through

This meant that the sea was losing four-fifths of its contents, but if things had been only a tiny bit better thought out, it might not have been in vain

If they had used better-built cs, they would have been able to grow the same amount of cotton with far less water

and the sea might have survived for longer. The Soviet government also insisted on running the agriculture from a central bureaucracy in Moscow

meaning that the farmers were unable to or unwilling to fix the issues with the water themselves

Poor farming practices were implemented in the name of large yields and in a quick manner

Toxic fertilizer was run off from fields and into rivers and there was no long-term plan for dealing with soil depletion

The cotton fields would simply bleach all the goodness out of the ground before the farmers would just then move on

The land was being bled of whatever it had to offer. All of this greed, bureaucracy and poor planning had an immediate and tragic effect

The water levels began to drop, first slowly and then dramatically. It was exponential. The drying lake warmed the area around it

and the more water that was lost, the faster the remaining water evaporated

By the 1980s, Soviet cotton wasn't even making much economic sense anymore

It would have been cheaper to simply import what they needed from friendly nations, but

the wheels of the Soviet government turned excruciatingly slowly. There was barely any reaction from the governing body, and when at last they did react, production

was hardly even reduced from its normal rate By 1998 the water level of the Aral Sea had declined by more than 20 metres and it covered a mere 10 of the land that it had covered only 40 years before

From this point on, the water level has stayed largely stagnant. The little that remains is divided into two lakes

now called the North and South Aral Sea. When the Soviet Union itself collapsed

the irrigation projects were never abandoned or shut down. and cotton became a staple of the Uzbekistan economy

and couldn't be abandoned in such a turbulent moment in history. As such, the situation today is much the same as it was under the Soviets

The rivers feeding the sea have stayed diverted. The lake has sat stagnant and the people of the region

are in just as bad a position as they were decades ago. In fact, probably it's worse

The dust from the dry lake bed has spread beyond the boundaries of the old lake and now it's slowly creeping out

threatened to turn the homes of millions of people into a barren desert wasteland

Though there may be some water left, to say that the lake is a husk of its former self would be a serious understatement

There is a fluctuating number of smaller bodies of water that might appear seasonally

but it's nothing when compared to the sea and its natural state. The South Aral Sea is an ecological dead zone in any case

because the drop in the water level has resulted in a massive increase in salt levels. The salt level would be fine in a lake the size of what the Aral Sea used to be

but now all that salt has concentrated in what little water remains. The fish can't even survive

in the water. The salinity is 10 times higher than it was when the lake was in a healthy state

The effects of the Aral Sea drying have been absolutely devastating. Not only have the once

vibrant communities in the region been deprived of what was once their greatest resource

with fishing communities now stranded in a barren desert. Not only has an entire ecosystem been destroyed

that once made up one of the greatest inland marine systems on Earth, but those people that remain in the proximity of the Aral Sea

are now faced with issues that one might have never expected. The dried-out sands at the bottom of the lake

are now releasing salts and pesticides into the air, kicked up by the winds that now ravage the area

Chemicals that had been dumped in the Aral Sea in the days of the Soviet Union are now being released up into the atmosphere

Everything from the remnants of biological weapons testing to industrial fertiliser was resting on the bottom

These chemicals now form the basis of a toxic dust storm that continues to plague the area and its people

This toxic dust has caused a drastic spike in cancers and respiratory issues in the surrounding area

The farms growing food in the region were also abandoned under Soviet policies

It was thought that the Central Asians could simply import the food they needed

from other parts of the Union. Now this mostly worked until the 1990s, when the newly independent countries had to find their own food

The most fertile land is still used for the production of cotton instead of locally grown food

so now malnutrition and infant mortality have skyrocketed. Pollution of the remaining water has reduced access to drinking water as well

and the conditions in the area are almost post-apocalyptic. The constant drainage of water has also resulted in desertification

with the dead zones spreading out from the Aral Sea into other areas

The salt dust that flies off the dried lake bed killing off surrounding soil and poor water usage prevents new plants that might mitigate the damage from taking root Well as for the cotton fields themselves you be surprised to learn they still functioning today

in the same way as they were in the days of the Soviet Union. Cotton forms one of Uzbekistan's most important exports

and the government has been incredibly reluctant to do anything that might damage the industry

The cotton fields today are notorious for human rights abuses, with hundreds of thousands of forced labourers being sent to the fields every year by the government

Some of these people are children. In 2013 alone, over 13 people died in the cotton harvests

including one boy who was only six years old. The issues surrounding the Aral Sea were obvious to virtually everyone that looked

but thanks to Soviet bureaucracy and the allure of cotton production, nothing was ever done

in the 1980s even the soviet government itself was beginning to see issues with allowing the

lake to dry the only problem was no one quite knew how to deal with the problem in a politically

useful way plans were briefly proposed in the brezhnev era to divert siberian rivers to the

aral sea this would allow both cotton production and the restoration of the lake but those plans

were thought to be simply too expensive by 1986 they were shelved this was the closest the soviet

government would ever get to acknowledging the monumental ecological impact that their system had

had. In 1997, the United Nations and World Bank conducted a study of the region, trying to find

a solution to the crisis, but the report was grim, eventually concluding that, while there was scope

for reducing the wasteful use of water, the savings would not be enough to change the desiccated sea

It seemed that the damage done in pursuit of cotton would remain permanent

Now, more recently, there has actually been some good news, though. In Kazakhstan, the North Aral Sea has seen some successes in being restored

The government has accepted responsibility for undoing the damage done, and in 2005 completed the Kok Aral Dam that would help restore the water levels of the North Lake

Now, while it has not managed to save the Aral Sea as a whole, this project has seen great success

The water level in the North Lake rose by more than three metres after only seven months

The North Lake is expanding, while salinity is dropping. The fish population is also rising, and the wetland ecosystem surrounding the area is experiencing a slow recovery

This has allowed a shift in the area back to traditional fishing communities and away from the resource-intensive agriculture

Uzbekistan, unfortunately, has not attempted anything similar. The region is too reliant on its cotton crop

and to divert water back to the Aral Sea would be to deprive farmers of the water they need to grow their cotton

Uzbekistan to this day remains the world's fifth largest exporter of cotton

despite the massive and clearly visible damage the crop is having on the region

For now, it would appear that the majority of the Aral Sea

will remain nothing but a dried out husk of what was once a vast inland sea

a natural marvel and one of the largest lakes in the world

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Until next time remember, history doesn't repeat, but it certainly echoes