Aral Sea
h further splitting and effectively dissapearing. Work has been done by Kazakhstan to bolster the North Aral Sea.Quote from wikipedia:"The ecosystem of the Aral Sea and the river deltas feeding into it has been nearly destroyed, not least because of the much higher salinity. The receding sea has left huge plains covered with salt and toxic chemicals, which are picked up and carried away by the wind as toxic dust and spread to the surrounding area. The land around the Aral Sea is heavily polluted and the people living in the area are suffering from a lack of fresh water and other health problems, including high rates of certain forms of cancer and lung diseases. Crops in the region are destroyed by salt being deposited onto the land. The town of Moynaq in Uzbekistan had a thriving harbor and fishing industry that employed approximately 60,000 people; now the town lies miles from the shore. Fishing boats lie scattered on the dry land that was once covered by water, many have been there for 20 years. The only significant fishing company left in the area has its fish shipped from the Baltic Sea, thousands of kilometres away."
The lesson here is one of planning, and consequences. The dust and salt from the receding waters have created dust-bowl like effects, affecting foodstuff production and exacerbting the termperature swings of the seasons over the whole region.As the US looks to its own water shortage, and eyes fall upon the bounty of the Great Lakes, the destruction of one of the worlds largest sources of fresh water should not be forgotten.
Animated GIF does not seem to work, go here for the original:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Aral_Sea.gif
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