Dwindling body of water makes stunning comeback: 'The result of two years of systematic work'

A conservation project to revitalize the North Aral Sea in Kazakhstan has delivered encouraging returns, with the lake now nearly twice the size it was in 2008.

According to the Astana Times, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation announced in January that its efforts, in coordination with the World Bank, increased the body of water's volume by 42%. As a result, the North Aral Sea now contains 27 billion cubic meters of water, and its salinity has dropped by a factor of four.

Additionally, the plan has helped local fisheries up their annual catch total to 8,000 tons, which pales in comparison to peak levels but is still a positive development.

"These figures are the result of two years of systematic work. We have reached mutual understanding with neighboring countries on the protection and equitable sharing of water resources in transboundary rivers," Nurzhan Nurzhigitov, the department's minister, said during a public meeting in the Aral district of the Kyzylorda Region.

Improved water management of the Syr Darya River allowed authorities to fill the North Aral Sea with 2.6 billion cubic meters of water last year. Deutsche Welle also noted that conservationists are planting native black saxaul trees in the area to combat desertification and improve climate resilience.

The Aral Sea was once the fourth-largest lake in the world at around 68,000 square kilometers, per the U.S. Geological Services. However, it split into two and is now just a 10th of the size it was in 1960 after the Soviet government diverted the rivers that feed into the sea to irrigate the arid region surrounding it.

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This led to what the U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Kazakhstan called "one of the worst ecological catastrophes in human history."

The Aral Sea's heightened salinity rendered the water undrinkable and killed off several commercial fish species, impacting the lake's biodiversity and economic productivity. Dust from the exposed seabed has also caused numerous health issues, such as respiratory illness and cancer.

That's what makes continued commitments to improve the North Aral Sea and others like it, including Michigan's Great Lakes and Bolivia's Lake Uru Uru, all the more crucial. Many lakes and other aquatic habitats are disappearing because of Earth's overheating and anthropogenic activities.

"We will continue negotiating and making every effort to maintain a stable level of important reservoirs. The Aral Sea restoration project aims, first of all, to improve the environmental situation in the region, develop fisheries and tourism, and improve the well-being of the population," Nurzhigitov added.