Aral Needs More than Cash

Despite some progress made by Kazakstan to revive the shrinking Aral Sea, its efforts will have little impact unless the rest of the region starts doing its bit to conserve the rivers that feed it.



According to an April 9 BBC report, the World Bank is to give Kazakstan a 126 million US dollar loan to build a second dam that will prevent water being lost from the northern, Kazak part of the sea. Kazakstan built the first such dam across the middle of the Aral with an earlier 68 million dollar loan.



According to NBCentralAsia experts in Kazakstan, dams can contribute to brining the sea back by limiting the outward flow of water, reducing surface evaporation and preventing the water from becoming too saline.



“Dams help the water build up gradually, and they reduce salinity levels because they stop water draining off into those areas of the sea basin that are already drying up,” said NBCentralAsia observer Maksim Kaznacheev.



However, Kaznacheev points out that the sea cannot be saved just by building dams on the Kazak side. Uzbekistan, which shares the Aral with Kazakstan, must take part as well, especially as the sea on its side is continuing to dry up.



One practical reason why the Uzbeks need to be on board is that in places their section of the sea is deeper, so water will tend to flow naturally from the Kazak sector.



According to Kaznacheev, “Uzbekistan’s unconstructive position is preventing the work to revive the sea from being more effective.”



In the late Sixties, the Soviet government decided to divert much of the water from the Amu Darya and the Syrdarya, the two great rivers that feed the Aral, to irrigate cotton fields in Uzbekistan and Kazakstan.



Since then, the Aral Sea has lost a quarter of its waters. The sea dried up, upsetting the entire region’s ecosystem, increasing the incidence of cancer and bronchial diseases in humans, and tipping the towns around the Aral into economic decline.



Igor Maikovskiy, a scientist at the Kazakstan’s Institute of Geography, says it would be virtually impossible to restore the sea to its former state, despite the positive effects of damming up the northern section.



For that to start happening, there would need to be a complete halt to the industrial and agricultural use of water from rivers that feed the Aral.



“Restoring the Aral will be impossible in the foreseeable future,” said Maikovsky. “There is a slim chance the Aral could be revived at some point in the distant future if, for example, its waters were never used for irrigation.”



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)