Aral Sea

The Aral Sea - darkometer rating : 8 - Rather: the area that once was the Aral Sea, the fourth largest lake on earth. From the 1960s onwards, the then Soviet Union diverted the two main rivers that were feeding the lake in order to implement massive irrigation projects, in particular to grow cotton (a very thirsty plant!). While this brought shorter-term prosperity, the longer-term effects were devastating. The lake shrunk. And with it the salinity of its waters went up, killing the fish in the lake and hence the fishing industry of towns like Aralsk . After the collapse of the USSR , the desiccation of the lake even accelerated, as even more water from the two (formerly) big rivers which used to feed the lake, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, was diverted for irrigation purposes (mainly for the cotton plantations – in particular in Uzbekistan but also in Turkmenistan ). Now there's less than 10% of the former area of the Aral Sea left, split into separate bodies of water. Where there was once water rich in fish, extends a new desert, the "Aralkum". Of the two parts that the lake had split into, the larger southern Aral is probably irretrievably lost. Only a thin crescent-shaped body of shallow water remains on the western edge – but since it is cut off from the main rivers, it is doomed also to disappear altogether over the coming years. In the north, on the other hand, things are looking up a bit. Since the construction of a dam between the northern and southern parts, water levels in the north have been rising again (see under Aralsk ), but it's still a far cry from the olden golden days of thriving fisheries … The former shores and the desert ex-seabed are now littered with rusting hulks of boats left, quite literally, high and dry (well, more dry than high). That's the iconic image that characterizes the place today ...