Dike Kokaral
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Dike Kokaral is a dyke across a narrow stretch of the Aral Sea, splitting off the North Aral Sea (also called "The Small Sea") from the much larger South Aral Sea ("The Large Sea"). Work was completed in August 2005.
Water level of the North Aral has risen, and its salinity has decreased. As of 2006, some recovery of sea level has been recorded, sooner than expected.[1] "The dam has caused the small Aral's sea level to rise swiftly to 125 feet, from a low of less than 98 feet, with 138 considered the level of viability." [2] Economically significant stocks of fish have even been returned, and observers who had written off the North Aral Sea as an environmental catastrophe will be surprised by unexpected reports that in 2006 its returning waters already were partly reviving the fishing industry and producing a catch for export as far as Ukraine. The restoration reportedly gave rise to long absent rain clouds and possible microclimate changes, bringing tentative hope to an agricultural sector swallowed by a regional dustbowl, and some expansion of the shrunken sea. [3] "The sea, which had receded almost 100 km south of the port-city of Aralsk, is now a mere 25 km away."
The dike is conserving the dwindling waters of the Syr Darya river and maintain (and attempt to revive) the damaged ecology of the North Aral Sea, at the expense of sealing the fate of the larger South Aral. As the waters of the contributory rivers to the Aral have been progressively redirected for irrigation, the water levels in the Aral have fallen, the shore receded, and the water quality has dropped precipitously.
Dike Kokaral is called after the Kokaral Peninsula, which it would connect to the other shore of Aral Sea and this way separate the northern from the southern sea. The dike was actually built from local sand, but due to lack of funding necessary to strengthen it once the water-level in the North Aral Sea (and therefore pressure to the dike) began to raise, the dike was washed away. This happened two times in 1992 and 1998. However, for the short time that the dike stood, positive changes were already noticed - the climate began to get milder, the fauna was partly restored. When the dike was washed away, the water-level fell again, as much of the water poured into the South Aral Sea. In some places the coastline of North Aral retreated by as much as a few hundred meters.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Discussion of the Dike and its predecessors
- An International Herald Tribune report of the Dike project
- A report of the plight of the Aral and efforts (including the dike) to reclaim it
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