Efforts Made

Great efforts to save the Aral Sea have been made over the last 20 years. The first attempt was a “hand-made” dam made of sand, constructed by local government and villagers in 1992 (2, 12). It blocked the flow from the North Aral Sea to the saltier and more polluted South Aral Sea, and successfully kept Little Aral’s sea level from further descending. The dam collapsed after 9 months because it was not strong enough, but it showed a feasible approach to protect the lake, at least its north part (12).

In 2005, a new, concrete dam serving the same function was built at the joint point between North Aral Sea and South Aral Sea (11). It was an 85 million USD project initiated by Kazakhstan and financed by the World Bank (11). The project got great success, raising the sea level of the North Aral Sea from 38.4m to 42m in 7 months after its completion (2). This recovery is much more dramatic than had been expected. Now Little Aral’s water level is maintained at 42m, and its salinity has decreased to 10 gram per liter, the same level as 1960 (8). Local economy has also recovered remarkably, as the once-dead fishing industry comes back again (3). 

The hand-made dam marked in red. (Source: http://nailaokda.8m.com/north.html)

 

North Aral Sea in 2005 and 2007 (Source: NASA (11))