Editing Aral Sea (section)

===Irrigation canals===
{{Further|Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature}}
[[File:Karakalpakstan Kyzyl Qala Cotton Picking.jpg|thumb|Cotton picking near [[Kyzyl-Kala]], [[Karakalpakstan]]]]
[[File:Aral Sea.gif|thumb|Timeline of shrinking]]
[[File:Shrinking Aral Sea 2000-2018.webm|thumb|left|Satellite images show the changing water levels in the Aral Sea from 2000 to 2018.]]<!-- No need size since it will be shown in full screen mode-->

In the early 1960s,<ref name="ns">{{cite news|url= https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12416910.800-soviet-cotton-threatens-a-regions-sea--and-its-children.html|title=Soviet cotton threatens a region's sea - and its children|date=18 November 1989|work=[[New Scientist]]|access-date=27 January 2010}}</ref> as part of the [[Government of the Soviet Union#Sovnarkom|Soviet government]] plan for [[cotton]], or "white gold", to become a major export, the Amu Darya river in the south and the Syr Darya river in the east were diverted from feeding the Aral Sea to irrigate the desert in an attempt to grow [[cotton]], [[melon]]s, [[rice]] and [[cereal]]s.<ref name="Kapus">Ryszard Kapuscinski, ''Imperium'', 2019, pp.255-260.</ref> This plan was initially successful, and by 1988, Uzbekistan was the world's largest exporter of cotton.<ref>{{cite web|author=USDA-Foreign Agriculture Service|title=Cotton Production Ranking|url= http://www.cotton.org/econ/cropinfo/cropdata/rankings.cfm|publisher=National Cotton Council of America|year=2013|access-date=14 October 2013}}</ref> However to achieve these results farms relied heavily on [[Agrochemical|agro-chemicals]], including [[Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds|dioxins]], which were used even after being banned. Farmers, including children, were intoxicated by these chemicals. Due to abuse, the soil crucially degraded.<ref name=":3" /> Though production levels declined from its peak, cotton remains [[Cotton production in Uzbekistan|Uzbekistan's main cash crop]], accounting for 17% of the country's exports in 2006.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |title=Cotton production linked to images of the dried up Aral Sea basin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/sustainable-fashion-blog/2014/oct/01/cotton-production-linked-to-images-of-the-dried-up-aral-sea-basin |work=The Guardian |date=1 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The True Costs of Cotton: Cotton Production and Water Insecurity |url=https://ejfoundation.org/resources/downloads/EJF_Aral_report_cotton_net_ok.pdf |publisher=[[Environmental Justice Foundation]] (EJF)}}</ref><ref>''Uzbekistan in Numbers 2006'', State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, 2007 {{in lang|ru}}.</ref>

Large scale construction of irrigation canals first began in the 1930s and was greatly increased in the 1960s.<ref name="Gos">Simon N. Gosling, ''Sustainability - The Geography Perspective'', University of Nottingham, 2012</ref> Many canals were poorly built, allowing leakage and evaporation. Between 30 and 75% of the water from the [[Qaraqum Canal]], the largest in Central Asia, went to waste.<ref name="Kapus" /> It was estimated in 2012 that only 12% of Uzbekistan's irrigation canal length was waterproofed.<ref name="Gos" /> Only 28% of interfarm irrigation channels, and 21% of onfarm channels have [[Canal lining|anti-infiltration linings]], which retain on average 15% more water than unlined channels. Only 77% of farm intakes have [[Flow measurement#Open-channel flow measurement|flow gauges]].<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.cawater-info.net/aral/aral0_e.htm|title=ca-water.net, a knowledge base for projects in the Central Asia|year=2003|access-date=1 November 2010}}</ref>

By 1960, between {{convert|20|and|60|km3|cumi|lk=out|abbr=on}} of water each year was going to the land instead of the Aral Sea and the sea began to recede. From 1961 to 1970, the Aral's level fell an average of {{convert|20|cm|in|abbr=on}} per year. In the 1970s the rate nearly tripled to {{convert|50|-|60|cm|abbr=on}} per annum, and in the 1980s to {{convert|80|-|90|cm|abbr=on}} per annum. The amount of water taken for irrigation from the rivers doubled between 1960 and 2000. In the first half of the 20th century prior to the irrigation, the sea's water level above sea level held steady at 53 m. By 2010, the large Aral was 27 m and the small Aral 43 m above sea level.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Micklin |first1=Philip |date=December 2017 |title=The past, present, and future Aral Sea |journal=Lakes & Reservoirs: Research & Management |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=193–213|doi=10.1111/j.1440-1770.2010.00437.x }}</ref>

The disappearance of the lake was no surprise to the Soviets, they expected it to happen long before. As early as 1964, Aleksandr Asarin at the [[Hydroproject]] Institute pointed out that the lake was doomed, explaining, "It was part of the [[Five-year plans of the Soviet Union|five-year plans]], approved by the [[Government of the Soviet Union|council of ministers]] and the [[Politburo]]. Nobody on a lower level would dare to say a word contradicting those plans, even if it was the fate of the Aral Sea."<ref name="winse">{{cite news|author=Michael Wines|url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03E4DA1F3BF93AA35751C1A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|title=Grand Soviet Scheme for Sharing Water in Central Asia Is Foundering|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=9 December 2002|access-date=8 March 2008}}</ref>

The reaction to the predictions varied. Some Soviet experts apparently considered the Aral to be "nature's error", and a Soviet engineer said in 1968, "it is obvious to everyone that the evaporation of the Aral Sea is inevitable."<ref>{{cite book|last=Bissell|first=Tom|title=Eternal Winter: Lessons of the Aral Sea Disaster|pages=41–56|publisher=Harper's|year=2002}}</ref> On the other hand, starting in the 1960s, a [[Northern river reversal|large-scale project]] was proposed to redirect part of the flow of the rivers of the [[Ob River|Ob]] basin to Central Asia over a gigantic canal system. Refilling of the Aral Sea was considered one of the project's main goals. However, due to its staggering costs and the negative public opinion in [[RSFSR|Russia proper]], the federal authorities had abandoned the project by 1986.<ref>{{cite book|last=Glantz|first= Michael H.|title=Creeping Environmental Problems and Sustainable Development in the Aral Sea...|page=174|location=Cambridge, New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1999|isbn=0-521-62086-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2YXnBxZg7c4C|access-date=17 May 2008}}</ref>

From 1960 to 1998, the sea's surface area shrank by 60%, and its volume by 80%. In 1960, the Aral Sea had been the world's [[List of lakes by area|fourth-largest]] lake with an area of {{convert|68000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} and a volume of {{convert|1100|km3|cumi|abbr=on}}. By 1998, it had dropped to {{convert|28687|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} and eighth largest. Its salinity increased; having originally been 10&nbsp;g/L,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Plotnikov|first1=I. S.|last2= Aladin|first2= N. V.|last3= Zhakova|first3=L. V.|last4= Mossin|first4= J.|last5=Høeg|first5= J. T. |title=Past, Present and Future of the Aral Sea: A Review of its Fauna and Flora before and during the Regression Crisis |journal=Zoological Studies |date=2023 |volume=62 |issue=19 |page=4 |doi=10.6620/ZS.2023.62-19 |pmid=37408707 |pmc=10317995 |url=https://zoolstud.sinica.edu.tw/Journals/62/62-19.pdf |access-date=October 21, 2023}}</ref> by 1990 it was at 376&nbsp;g/L.<ref name="sciam" /> (By comparison, seawater is typically 35&nbsp;g/L, and the [[Dead Sea]] between 300 and 350&nbsp;g/L.)

In 1987, the lake split into two separate bodies of water: the [[North Aral Sea]] (the Lesser Sea, or Small Aral Sea) and the [[South Aral Sea]] (the Greater Sea, or Large Aral Sea). In June 1991, Uzbekistan gained independence from the Soviet Union. [[Craig Murray]], UK ambassador to Uzbekistan in 2002, attributes the shrinkage of the Aral Sea in the 1990s to president [[Islam Karimov]]'s cotton policy. The enormous irrigation system was massively wasteful, [[crop rotation]] was not used, and huge quantities of [[pesticides]] and [[fertilizer]] were applied. The runoff from the fields washed these chemicals into the shrinking sea, creating severe pollution and health problems. As demand for cotton increased, the government applied more pesticides and fertilizer to the [[monoculture|monocultured]] and depleted soil. Forced labor was used and profits were siphoned off by the powerful and well-connected.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dirty Diplomacy|author=Craig Murray|publisher=Scribner|year=2007}}</ref>

In 2003, the South Aral further divided into eastern and western basins. The waters in the deepest parts of the sea were saltier and didn't mix with the top waters, so only the top of the sea was heated in the summer, resulting in faster evaporation than had been predicted. A plan was announced for the recovery of the North Aral Sea by building [[Dike Kokaral]], a concrete dam separating the two halves of the Aral Sea.

In 2004, the sea's surface area was {{convert|17160|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, 25% of its original size, and a nearly fivefold increase in salinity had killed most of its flora and fauna. Dike Kokaral was completed in 2005 and, as of 2006, some recovery of sea level had been recorded.<ref name=reclaim>{{cite news |last=Greenberg |first=Ilan |title=A vanished sea reclaims its form in Central Asia |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/05/world/asia/a-vanished-sea-reclaims-its-form-in-central-asia.html |work=[[International Herald Tribune]] |date=7 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222220227/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/05/world/asia/a-vanished-sea-reclaims-its-form-in-central-asia.html |archive-date=22 December 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Aral sea 1985 from STS.jpg|Aral Sea from space (north at bottom), August 1985
File:AralSea(1997)_NASA_STS085-503-119.jpg|Aral Sea from space (north at bottom), August 1997
File:Aral Sea Continues to Shrink, August 2009.jpg|Aral Sea from space (north at top), August 2009
File:The Shrinking Aral Sea Recovers 2010.jpg|Aral Sea in August 2010, with part of the eastern basin reflooded from heavy snowmelt.
File:Aralsea tmo 2014231 lrg.jpg|Aral Sea completely loses its eastern lobe in August 2014
File:Aral Sea August 2017.jpg|Aral Sea from space, August 2017. Part of the eastern basin was reflooded from heavy snowmelt in 2015.
File:Aral in April 2018 (Iss055e018638 lrg).jpg|April 2018
File:The Aral Sea (MODIS 2019-10-11).jpg|Aral Sea once again completely loses its eastern lobe in October 2019
File:Aral Sea 2021.jpg|August 2021
File:Aral Sea 2024-05-05.png|Further area reductions in western lakes, as captured in May 2024
File:The Aral Sea (21 Aug 2024).png|August 2024
</gallery>