The fourth largest lake in the world is about to disappear

The area of ​​Aral Lake in Central Asia decreased by 90% due to lack of water and the Secretary-General of the United Nations called it a "shocking environmental disaster".

Photo of Lake Aral from above in 1989 and 2008. Photo: wikipedia.org.

Each area has an area of ​​about 67,300 km ² - nearly the size of Ireland - Lake Aral is located between southern Kazakhstan and northwestern Uzbekistan. In fact, it is a low-lying basin with several saltwater lakes located in Central Asia that have been linked into a closed lake (not navigating with other seas or oceans). Aral Lake has a length of 420 km and a width of 280 km. It is the fourth largest lake in the world, behind the Caspian Sea, Lake Superieur and Lake Victoria.

The Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers once supplied water to the lake. In the early 50s of the last century, the former Soviet government decided to take the water of two rivers to irrigate the arid land around the Aral Sea, turning it into rice fields, melons, grains, and cotton. This policy makes the amount of fresh water in the lake plummet. The decline in the area of ​​Aral's continuous water surface over the past decade has made fishing activities paralyzed and many fishermen have to quit their jobs. Aral split into two smaller lakes in 1990, one of which was in Uzbekistan, while the other (smaller) was in Kazakhstan.

Reuters said most of Aral lake has turned into arid areas. They are covered with small shrubs and salt. Hundreds of fishing boats lay inert on dry lands as if they fell from the sky. The evaporation of the lake creates many layers of salty sand in the areas that used to be the bottom of the lake. It is worrisome that this type of sand can follow the wind until Japan and Scandinavia, causing many diseases for the people.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visits the "cemetery" of fishing vessels in the city of Nukus, Uzbekistan.The land in the picture used to be Aral lake.Photo: AFP.

According to the AP, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon inspected Lake Aral on April 4 by helicopter during a visit to five former Soviet Central Asian republics.

"I feel very shocked. This is clearly one of the most serious environmental disasters in the world," Reuters quoted Ban as saying after a tour of Aral Lake.

The UN Secretary General called on Central Asian leaders to discuss with each other to find solutions to prevent dehydration in Lake Aral. He affirmed that UN specialized agencies will support Central Asian countries in this effort.

Scientists claim that the disappearance of Lake Aral will cause an ecological and economic disaster for the region.