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The Qaraqum Canal (formerly called the Karakumsky Kanal) is the largest irrigation and water supply canal in the world. Started in 1954, and completed in 1988, it is navigable over much of its 1,375 km length, and carries 13 km³ of water annually from the Amu-Darya River across the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan. The canal opened up huge new tracts of land to agriculture, especially to cotton monoculture heavily promoted by the Soviet Union, and supplying Ashgabat with a major source of water. Unfortunately, the primitive construction of the canal allows almost 50% of the water to escape en route, creating lakes and ponds along the canal, and a rise in groundwater leading to widespread soil salinization problems. The canal is also a major factor leading to the Aral Sea environmental disaster.
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