Aral Sea disaster: the short version
Around 1960 the Aral was the world’s fourth-largest lake. It covered about 68,000 km². Within a few decades most of it was gone. The cause was not drought or a natural shift. It was a decision to take the water from its rivers.
The story is not simply “the sea vanished.” Part of the lake is gone, part is stable, and one part has been brought back. This article follows each piece.
Aral Sea: where is it located?
The Aral Sea lies in Central Asia, at about 45° north and 60° east. Kazakhstan lies to the north of the lake. Uzbekistan lies to the south.
Those two countries are the Aral Sea’s bordering countries. So when people ask which country the Aral Sea is in, the answer is both. The old lake bed is shared between them.
Two rivers fed the lake. The Syr Darya flowed into the northern part. The Amu Darya flowed into the southern part. Keep these two names in mind. The whole story depends on them.
Why the Aral was fragile from the start
The name says “sea,” but the Aral is a lake. It has no outlet to the ocean. Water leaves it only by evaporation.
That matters because the climate is harsh. Rain over the Aral falls below 200 mm a year. Evaporation takes 1,000–1,200 mm a year. The lake loses far more than the sky gives it.
The rivers closed that gap. Cut the rivers, and the lake has nothing to live on.
How the Aral Sea dried up
In the 1950s and 1960s, Soviet authorities diverted the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya. They sent the water to irrigate farmland. This started the long retreat of the lake.
The early-1960s irrigation program aimed to grow crops in desert land. Cotton was the main crop, alongside rice, melons and grain.
Here is the everyday link. Think of the cotton in a shirt, a towel or a bedsheet. The program that turned those rivers away was built to grow crops of exactly this kind in the desert.
The canals leaked and evaporated much of what they carried. One detail shows the scale. Estimates say 30–75% of the water taken into the Karakum Canal was lost. A large share of the diverted river never reached a field.
So the lake paid twice. The rivers were cut, and much of the water taken from them was wasted.
Aral Sea before and after
The numbers are blunt. Between 1960 and 1998, the lake’s surface area fell by about 60%. Its water volume fell by 80%.
The lake did not shrink evenly. It broke apart:
- In 1987 the falling water split it into the North Aral and the South Aral.
- In 2003 the South Aral divided again, into eastern and western basins.
Salt rose as water fell. Until the 1960s the Aral held about 10 g of salt per litre. In the remaining waters of the South Aral, the figure climbed above 100 g per litre.
Fish could not live in that. Rising salt and falling water made commercial fishing unsustainable by the early 1980s.
The town of Aralsk shows the change. A 1964 satellite image shows it on the lake shore. By 2015 the waterline was about 20 km away.
The lake bed left behind became the Aralkum Desert.
Timeline
- Around 1960: The Aral covers about 68,000 km² and ranks as the world’s fourth-largest lake.
- 1960s: Soviet irrigation projects pull water from the rivers and speed up the shrinking.
- Early 1980s: Falling water and rising salt end sustainable commercial fishing.
- 1987: The lake splits into the North Aral and South Aral.
- 1992: An earthen dam is built to hold back water in the North Aral.
- 2003: The South Aral divides into eastern and western basins.
- August 2005: The permanent Kokaral Dam is completed.
- 2007: North Aral fish catch reaches 2,000 tons, per World Bank data.
- 2010: The eastern South Aral basin, nearly dry in 2009, refills noticeably.
- 19 August 2014: A Terra satellite image documents the eastern basin fully dry.
- 25 February 2026: Planting of saksaul on the old lake bed in Uzbekistan, with UNDP partners.
- 7 October 2026: Kazakhstan reports the North Aral’s volume and announces new targets.
What happened to the eastern basin?
The eastern basin of the South Aral had a strange few years. It nearly dried out in 2009. In 2010 it filled with water again in a clear way.
That did not last. A NASA Terra image from 19 August 2014 showed the eastern basin completely dry. NASA described it as the first time in the modern era.
Geographer Philip Micklin explained the 2014 result with two causes. Irrigation withdrawals continued. In addition, less rain and snow in the Pamir basin cut the flow of the Amu Darya.
So the problem was not only old Soviet policy. Today’s water use and a weaker mountain water supply also matter.
Aral Sea restoration: the Kokaral Dam
The North Aral is the success story. Kazakhstan and the World Bank ran an $86 million project there. It built the 13-km Kokaral Dam, finished in August 2005.
The dam keeps water from the Syr Darya in the North Aral. It stopped the retreat in that part of the lake.
The World Bank reported what followed. The North Aral fish catch rose from 52 tons in 2004 to 2,000 tons in 2007. That is a jump of roughly forty times in three years.
A smaller dam had come first. An earthen dike in the same area was built in 1992. The permanent structure of 2005 replaced that earlier attempt.
Aral Sea 2026: where things stand now
The Aral Sea today is not one story but three:
- North Aral (Kazakhstan): Partly restored. On 7 October 2026, the Kazakh Prime Minister’s office reported its volume at 23.4 billion m³.
- South Aral, eastern basin: Fully dry as of 2014.
- The old lake bed (Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan): Now the Aralkum Desert, and a major site for land restoration.
Kazakhstan has announced the next step. It plans to rebuild the Kokaral Dam. The goal is to bring the North Aral to 34 billion m³ and 3,900 km² in 5–6 years. That is a plan, not a result.
In Uzbekistan, the work is about plants. On 25 February 2026, Aral School participants, UNDP experts and foresters from Karauzyak planted saksaul and other salt-tolerant species on the former lake bed. The aim is to hold the dry ground in place.
Details you won’t find in guidebooks
- Canal losses were huge. Estimates put the water lost from the Karakum Canal at 30–75% of what it took in. The leaks were part of the disaster.
- The eastern basin came back once. After nearly drying in 2009, it refilled in 2010, before drying fully in 2014.
- Aralsk is 20 km from the water. A 1964 satellite image shows the city on the shore. A 2015 image shows the waterline about 20 km away.
- There was a dam before the dam. A 1992 earthen dike stood where the permanent Kokaral structure was later built.
- Saksaul roots go deep. UNDP says the roots of saksaul, used to stabilise the dry bed, can reach 10–15 metres down.
FAQ
Did the Aral Sea dry up completely?
No. The eastern basin of the South Aral dried out fully in 2014, according to a NASA Terra image from 19 August 2014. The North Aral, however, was partly restored by the Kokaral Dam and held 23.4 billion m³ in October 2026.
Which countries border the Aral Sea?
The lake sits in Central Asia between Kazakhstan in the north and Uzbekistan in the south, at about 45° N and 60° E.
What caused the Aral Sea disaster?
Soviet planners diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers in the 1950s and 1960s to irrigate farmland, mainly cotton. The lake lost its inflow. Rainfall under 200 mm a year could not make up for evaporation of 1,000–1,200 mm.
Can the Aral Sea be restored?
Partly. The North Aral has recovered since the Kokaral Dam was finished in August 2005. Kazakhstan’s next phase aims for 34 billion m³ and 3,900 km² within 5–6 years. The South Aral has no comparable recovery plan in these sources.
What is the Aralkum Desert?
It is the desert that formed on the exposed bed of the shrinking Aral Sea. Uzbekistan is restoring parts of it with salt- and drought-tolerant plants such as saksaul.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Aral Sea en.wikipedia.org
- Vikipedi — Aral Gölü tr.wikipedia.org
- USGS EROS — Aral Sea, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan eros.usgs.gov
- USGS EROS — Aralsk eros.usgs.gov
- USGS EROS — Kok-Aral Dam eros.usgs.gov
- NASA Earth Observatory — The Aral Sea Loses Its Eastern Lobe science.nasa.gov
- World Bank — Kazakh Fishermen Boost Fresh Fish Catches in Rising Aral Sea (19 June 2008) documents1.worldbank.org
- UNDP Uzbekistan — A Partnership Rooted in Action undp.org
- Prime Minister of Kazakhstan — Restoration work for the Aral and Caspian seas primeminister.kz
Image: Aral Sea 1989-2008.jpg — NASA, derivative work by Zafiroblue05 at en.wikipedia, Public domain
