INFLUENCE OF INCREASING ROLE OF CENTRAL ASIA IRRIGATED LANDS ON THE DRYING OF ARAL SEA

Almost ? of water inflow to the Aral Sea is provided by the Amu Darya. For millennia, it happened that the Amu River took away from the Aral Sea to the Caspian Sea (Karakum Canal, a former Stalin channel), causing a decrease in size of the Aral Sea. Today, intensive irrigation of cotton fields and rice are implemented by large part of Syr Darya, which dramatically reduces the flow of water in their delta and, respectively, in the sea. Precipitation in the form of rain and snow, and underground sources give Aral Sea much less water than it is lost by evaporation, whereby the volume of the lake-sea decreases and the salinity level increases.