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1950
The Soviet government decided to divert some of the water from rivers to irrigate the cotton fields. The end result of this, there is less water that flows into the Aral. The water became much saltier. The drinking water supplies has been contaminated with pesticides, agricultural chemicals, bacteria, and viruses. -
Period: to
Fourth-Largest Lake in the World
It covers 26,000 square miles. The Aral Sea is surrounded by 19 villages and 2 cities. It was in the middle of a fishing industry. The Aral Sea supported thousands of fishermen, processing plants, canneries, and a railroad. -
1977
The Sea was full of water with diverse river deltas and functioning seaports: on the southern edge of the Sea is Muynak, and on the northern edge of the Sea is Aralsk. -
1989
The failing environmental conditions in the Areal Sea basin and the water crisis in the then Soviet Central Asia really only became known to the world in the mid-1980s. -
2000
A sand barricade was fashioned by the natives surrounding Aralsk to stop the extreme reduction of the level in the Aral Sea. -
2002
The volume of the Sea has declined to less than one-third
of its 1960 volume, and its surface area reduced by more
than half of what it had been in 1960. -
2004
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2006
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2010
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2012
Now, the seaport of Muynak more than 150 kilometres from the
Shoreline. And it's one of the worst human-made environmental crises of the twentieth century. -
