the aral sea: an un -natural disaster
TRANSCRIPT
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The Aral Sea: An Un-natural Disaster
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1291433/Shocking-extent-mans-impact-worlds-water.html
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The Aral Sea used to be the 4th largest lake in the world.
http://www.yourchildlearns.com/images/asia-map.gif
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Thousands of fishermen made their living from the sea.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O-meLPfnnbw/Tnj0cGRHfOI/AAAAAAAAAM4/uurv7KUuW_c/s1600/aral+sea+fishing+past.jpg
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There were so many fish that a
local canning factory exported fish around the
world.
http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4711627351983267&pid=15.1&w=285&h=175&p=0
http://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/files/2012/09/canning-factory.jpg
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Ships traveled 250 miles from busy northern port cities to southern ports.
http://www.4x4info.ru/files/2009/11/port-aralsk-550x412.jpg
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In the 1950s, the Soviet Union needed more farmland. But most of their land was not arable because it was too cold and frozen – or too hot
and dry.
http://jb-hdnp.org/Sarver/Maps/WC/wc09_ruseurasclimm.jpg
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But there were two large rivers flowing into the southern
deserts. Soviet leaders decided to use river water for irrigation.
They built hundreds of miles of canals into the desert over the next 20
years.
http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4902787743875616&pid=15.1&w=238&h=175&p=0
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The longest
irrigation canal is
850 miles long. It
takes water out
of the southern
river – the Amu
Darya.
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But all along the
way, smaller canals drain
water for fields
along the river.
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The northern river (the Syr Darya)
is also drained
for irrigation.
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The main crop grown was cotton, which brought cash into the Soviet Union as the cotton was
exported around the world. Cotton is also a very “thirsty” crop – requiring LOTS of water.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01818/cotton-montage_1818007i.jpg
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So much water is
pulled out of both
rivers that hardly any
water makes it
to the Aral Sea.
CONSEQUENCES
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Fishermen tried to dig deeper
channels out to the sea to keep their
boats connected to what was left of
the sea.
http://www.karakalpak.com/history/sov15.jpg
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But the sea disappeared faster than they could
dig the channels.
http://swittersb.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/ships-high-dry-aral-sea.jpg
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http://www.orexca.com/aral_sea.shtml
By 2010, the Aral Sea had almost
disappeared. All that was left was
two to three small lakes.
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Aralsk, once a busy port city, no longer has enough water
for ships.
http://www.4x4info.ru/files/2009/11/port-aralsk-550x412.jpg
http://aboutkazakhstan.com/images/aralsk-city-past-scenery.jpg
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Like other inland seas, the Aral Sea is salty. As the sea shrunk, salt concentrations
became extremely high. This killed most fish.
http://issuu.com/zoienvironment/docs/biodiversity-ca-en-ebook-/search/43
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The fish canning factory is abandoned.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_X4qe7-HyiEs/S86KQScWTCI/AAAAAAAACw8/IuJcvqNk40A/s1600/Aral_Sea_08.jpg
http://www.demotix.com/news/1559887/pictures-former-glory-aral-sea#media-1559558
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http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/22/2273/OGDID00Z/posters/anthony-waltham-ship-s-graveyard-near-aralsk-on-seabed-due-to-water-losses-aral-sea-kazakhstan-central-asia.jpg
Much of what used to be sea is littered with stranded, rusting fishing boats.
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http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4ynzaQgSh1qgrwwmo1_500.jpg
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http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2511/3903304804_c9979ca4fc_z.jpg
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Dust storms cause sickness from breathing in dust and salt particles.
http://www.libartslondon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/aral-dust-2007.jpg
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Chemicals sprayed on crops poison the air and run off into the small amount of river
water still left.
http://www.naturepedic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/spraying-pesticides.jpg
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Half of the Aral Sea was in Kazakhstan,
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn3947/dn3947-1_552.jpg
TAKING CHARGE OF WHAT YOU CAN
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but Uzbekistan & Turkmenistan are taking most of the water.
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So in 2005, Kazakhstan started building a dam to separate the northern part of the Aral Sea
http://unimaps.com/aral-north/northaral.gif
from the rest. The
dam holds in water that
comes from the northern
river (Syr Darya).
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Kazakhstan saw improvements with months.
The sea is getting closer to
Aralsk every year. Fishermen
are even returning to the
sea.
Aralsk
Aralsk
2000
2012
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August 2000 August 2012
But the southern part of the sea keeps disappearing.
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http://www.eosnap.com/public/media/2012/10/aralsea/20121009-aralsea-full.jpg
Could this happen to waterways in the United States?
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Scientists tell us that the Colorado River has existed for 6 million years. It is
powerful enough to carve out the Grand Canyon.
http://www.humanandnatural.com/data/media/2/colorado_river_in_grand_canyon.jpg
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But we use its water to irrigate
our western deserts and to
provide water to desert towns.
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6073/6104914494_f81acd4f71_z.jpg
http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/617/overrides/water-grabs-greening-desert-nevada_61753_600x450.jpg
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So this river…
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cCJWygu-IUw/TEfq9KuwkdI/AAAAAAAAA_8/BkxXks-RHvo/s1600/whitewater-rafting-maneater-colorado-river.jpg
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… becomes this.
http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/6a00d8341d07fd53ef01543543d292970c-500wi.jpg
For 50 years now, the Colorado River has been dying out before it even reaches the ocean. The water is used up before that.
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And what about our Great Lakes? Their water level is dropping. Billions of gallons a year are taken for irrigation and general
water use.
http://biology.duke.edu/bio217/2005/ncy/GreatLakes_NASA.jpg
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And what about Oklahoma? We already have water rationing, even sometimes in the winter.
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And different groups are in court battles trying to claim the same water.
http://www.okc.gov/waterrights/waterrights_header2.jpg
Texas goes to court
for Oklahoma water Choctaw & Chickasaw
tribes dispute OKC
water claims
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“When the well is dry, we finally
learn the worth of water."
-- Benjamin Franklin
http://cnx.org/content/m41397/1.4/graphics20.jpg