These pictures from NASA are being called “the quiet Chernobyl.” It is the Aral Sea as seen in 2000 and as seen this year. The massive decline of water levels is particularly evident from the black line showing the shoreline in the 1960s. In the United States and other cities, the world is facing a water crisis that is being given relatively low amount of attention. However, pictures like these show vividly our self-destructive impact on the environment.
The once vast central Asian lake was devastated during the Soviet period due to a water diversion project in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Now here is the shocker stat: the Aral Sea was once the fourth largest lake in the world. It now hold less than 10% of its original water volume.
The destruction of the lake created in 2000 two separate lakes known the Small and Large Seas. Within 12 months, however, the southern lake was gone. Fisheries and other business have collapsed and the blowing dust from the exposed lakebed is now a health hazard due to the agricultural chemicals that polluted the lake. It has changed the local weather — the loss of the moderating water mass has made the winters and summers harsher.
These pictures are the work of the team for the Terra satellite studies.
It is a cautionary tale for all countries, including this one, of the cascading problems associated with environmental pollution and industrial overuse.
DBQ–Thanks for the info. I know things are bad out there, and it looks like it could get worse very quickly. Don’t know what the answer is, but everyone, especially we here on the east coast, should be made more aware of the situation. We can only begin to understand when we actually hear about it. Right now, it’s just a news snippet here and there, mainly pertaining to the wildfires.
Olly, You made a quip @ 10:24am about this being a biased post more like the weekend bloggers type. I am pointing out it is much better now than it was. A frame of reference. A historical perspective. I will keep pointing it out when appropriate. Simply ignore me if you don’t like it. I ignore people here daily. I pray daily some people here would ignore me as I do them.
Annie, the rules don’t apply to everyone.
@ slohrss29
This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, living in the FAR north of California where the water originates and in an area that has historically been a major source of water for the Sacramento River, we are quite aware of the water grabbing from Southern Ca and how it might destroy our ways of life.
We are quite conservation oriented in this area and the water is used for agriculture, hydro electric power, wild life preservation, recreation (fishing, canoeing) and residential usages for the rural population. We don’t have big swimming pools, giant lawns, ridiculous golf courses in desert surroundings, ostentatious fountains. Yet. We are in danger of having the water that we carefully and sparingly use, being taken for the flagrantly wasteful uses of those in the south that basically want to steal our water.
There was a drought very similar to now in the 1970’s . At that time, the sky was falling and we were all going to die!!!! The reservoirs were getting empty. Then …..suddenly…..and as normal, there was a change in the weather and we, in ONE year, had all the water reserves back. All the sky is falling dopes, proceeded to just forget about it. Since then, we have had decades of misguided eco-nazis trying to prevent additional storage facilities being built and wanting to destroy existing water storage facilities. Now….the drought is back again. Deja vu all over again. Had we gone ahead and planned for the future in the last 30 years, the severity of this drought would be mitigated by having more storage and better water delivery systems. A complete failure to see beyond their ideological noses. Much of the hardship we are experiencing now can be laid directly at their feet.
Water wars such as in the 1920’s in LA are not a thing of the past. Just wait until the State tries to meter private wells in the North State. People WILL get injured, if not killed by those trying to protect themselves.
DBQ – actually if Phoenix emptied all its swimming pools we would have plenty of drinking water. 😉
It’s amazing, simply amazing that despite MANY admonitions from JT not to bring up past disagreements some still completely ignore them and seem to think that admonitions don’t apply to them. Why is this?
DBQ: Yes, that’s my point. There is more to this story than just climate debate. Just like the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, there needs to be discussion about the use and protection of water as a resource.
Will how about this, the Inca aqueducts and canals in Cusco, Peru still work and flow with water.
“The water’s got to come from somewhere.”
No it doesn’t. People need to be more efficient and conserve in their water usage.
Just because you WANT something or want to live in a certain area, doesn’t mean that you should get what you want.
“Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Cause Desert Greening, Satellite Observations Reveal” Pretty picture included.
http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/geophysics/science-carbon-dioxide-desert-greening-01209.html
“Forest stand growth dynamics in Central Europe have accelerated since 1870”
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140912/ncomms5967/full/ncomms5967.html#affil-auth
No pretty picture in the last link. It’s a peer reviewed scientific study using solid data gong back to 1870 showing that the Norway spruce is growing 32% faster in European forests than it did in 1960 and European beech is growing an amazing 77% faster than in 1970. Reason? The study cites an extended growing season due to warmer weather and increased concentration of atmospheric CO2.
This is definitely related to topic but you have to think a bit to see all the possibilities.
We add roughly 200,000 people per day to the planet. That’s a million about every five days. (That’s net of those also departing the planet on a daily basis, which is a much lower figure.) The water’s got to come from somewhere.
“I think a lake the size of Lake Aral is pretty scary. Don’t read the article the Professor provided, just look at the photo.
Read the article why don’t you?. The water to Lake Aral has been diverted. This is the main reason it is drying up. The water is not going INTO the lake as it has for millennia and is being used for other purposes.
“The once vast central Asian lake was devastated during the Soviet period due to a water diversion project in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Now here is the shocker stat: the Aral Sea was once the fourth largest lake in the world. It now hold less than 10% of its original water volume.”
This is not to say that there may not be a drought in the area. HOWEVER the thrust of the article and the ones that I have been posting are the purposeful diversion of water from the natural (and man made lakes) to encourage excessive development of areas that cannot sustain that development without moving the water from one are to another.
Just like LA and the San Fernando Valley are not naturally sustainable for the population or the agriculture that exists now. They are artificial constructs made by destroying other ecological features. Not a product of global warming or climate change or whatever the word j’jour is now, but of greed and very bad engineering practices.
@ Paul
True. We are having a SEVERE drought which is not uncommon for the West and has occurred many many times over the millennia. A naturally occurring and regular climate event in the West and South West. The drought in the 1200 AD period was extremely long lasting and caused the migration out of the area by the Anasazi peoples.
However, Lake Mead is another example of water diversion for political an monetary gain.
http://peakwater.org/2013/01/las-vegas-accused-of-engineering-massive-water-grab-is-this-the-future-of-the-west/
“When groundwater reserves ran low in the 1940s, the region turned to Lake Mead. Today, the Las Vegas area gets 90 percent of its water from the no-longer-very-mighty Colorado River as it is corralled behind Hoover Dam in Lake Mead”
BTW: Las Vegas means the meadows in Spanish. Large spring fed meadows which used to exist there.
Scare tactics? I think a lake the size of Lake Aral is pretty scary. Don’t read the article the Professor provided, just look at the photo. And, as I pointed out earlier–without falling into an uncivil “tit-for-tat” climate debate argument–there is a big lesson here about how to manage resources. Regardless of whatever the factors, humans change the environment. You drain off the water, the water goes away. Simple as that. This should be a slap in the face for the dwindling water in CA, and it should be addressed. Should we not address water issues?? I think its a good idea. I address developing problems at my house all the time.
Ken ~
Desalination is not environmentally friendly. The waste from the process dumps chemicals and heavy metals into the ocean and changes the salinity and temperature of the surrounding coastal waters.
In order to lessen the drought here in California, perhaps Jerry Brown could curtail corporations like Nestle from draining the aquifers and shipping the water out of state.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/08/bottled-water-california-drought
Nick,
I really appreciate your perspective but I have to admit you seem overly preoccupied by the incivility of the past. This is a blog, not a neighborhood where one needs to fear walking down the street. We should continue to set the civil and reason-based example any serious blog should strive to be.
JT has a choice to make and it appears he has chosen a forum that is not tolerant of mindless trolls. They will pop their heads up but JT will quickly denounce the behavior. He certainly is quite a forgiving person and some on here tend to take advantage of that.
Most of these discussions should expect civil disagreements and periodic uncivil opinions. I can deal with that. What becomes tiresome for me are discussions where emotion outweighs reason. And if that is what this blog becomes then I’ll simply move along.
Amen, sister!
You’re welcome Nick.
Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.
DBQ, You just taught me some history. Thanks.
Other lakes are dropping still, even a lot in the last 4 years(Lake Mead Drops To Lowest Levels Ever).
You know that Lake Mead is part of a major drought.