Name: Yuzhu Gong Due Date: 2015/1/13
Article Title: Reclaiming the Aral Sea
Author/Source: Scientific American
Article Title: Reclaiming the Aral Sea
Author/Source: Scientific American
A: List major ideas, concepts or key points - point by point
- The Aral Sea gets almost all its water from the Amu and Syr rivers.
- Today heavy irrigation for crops such as cotton and rice siphons off much of the two rivers, severely cutting flow into their deltas and thus into the sea. Evaporation vastly outpaces any rainfall, snowmelt or groundwater supply, reducing water volume and raising salinity.
- Desiccation of the Aral Sea has wrought severe consequences. Greatly reduced river flows ended the spring floods that sustained wetlands with freshwater and enriched sediment.
- Shipping on the Aral also ceased because the water receded many kilometers from the major ports of Aralsk to the north and Moynak in the south.
- Only half the number of native mammal and bird species could be found in the area.
- Strong windstorms blow salt, dust and contaminants as far as 500 km.
- Winds from the north and northeast drive the most severe storms, seriously impacting the Amu delta to the south—the most densely settled and most economically and ecologically important area in the region.
- Health experts say the local population suffers from high levels of respiratory illnesses, throat and esophageal cancer, and digestive disorders caused by breathing and ingesting saltladen air and water.
- The loss of fish has also greatly reduced dietary variety, worsening malnutrition and anemia, particularly in pregnant women.
- The western basin’s fate depends on groundwater inflow, estimates for which are uncertain. One of us (Aladin) has noted numerous freshwater springs on the western cliffs.
- The Aral has been desiccated for more than 40 years; sustainable, longterm solutions will require not only major investments and technical innovations but fundamental political, social and economic change.
B: Summarize the author's main point or idea
Summary of Author's Main Points:
The sea has shriveled into three major residual lakes, two of which are so salty that fish have disappeared. The once thriving fishing fleets have disappeared, too. Former shore towns have collapsed. Vast seabeds lie exposed and dried; winds now blow salts and toxic substances across populated areas, causing significant health problems. Nevertheless, a dam built in 2005 has helped the northernmost lake expand quickly and drop substantially in salinity. Fish populations and wetlands are returning—and with them signs of economic revival. The two big southern lakes could become dead seas, however, unless the Amu river, which once fed them, is substantially reengineered, a project requiring tens of billions of dollars and difficult political agreements. Other lakes worldwide are beginning to suffer similar fates, chief among them Lake Chad in Central Africa and the Salton Sea in Southern California. Lessons learned about the Aral’s demise and partial resurrection could benefit these regions.
Summary of Author's Main Points:
The sea has shriveled into three major residual lakes, two of which are so salty that fish have disappeared. The once thriving fishing fleets have disappeared, too. Former shore towns have collapsed. Vast seabeds lie exposed and dried; winds now blow salts and toxic substances across populated areas, causing significant health problems. Nevertheless, a dam built in 2005 has helped the northernmost lake expand quickly and drop substantially in salinity. Fish populations and wetlands are returning—and with them signs of economic revival. The two big southern lakes could become dead seas, however, unless the Amu river, which once fed them, is substantially reengineered, a project requiring tens of billions of dollars and difficult political agreements. Other lakes worldwide are beginning to suffer similar fates, chief among them Lake Chad in Central Africa and the Salton Sea in Southern California. Lessons learned about the Aral’s demise and partial resurrection could benefit these regions.
C: Reaction to the article
My Own Thoughts on the Topic:
Today summers are hotter, winters are colder, humidity is lower (so rainfall is less), the growing season is shorter and drought is more common. It causes some other problems also, the loss of fish has also greatly reduced dietary variety, worsening malnutrition and anemia, particularly in pregnant women. Humans can quickly wreck the natural environment, but repairing it is a long, arduous process. Planners must cautiously evaluate the consequences of large-scale interference in natural systems before starting any action, which the Soviet Union did not do. The natural environment is amazingly resilient, so do not abandon hope or efforts to save it. Many pundits wrote off the Aral Sea as doomed, but substantial parts of it are now being ecologically restored.
My Own Thoughts on the Topic:
Today summers are hotter, winters are colder, humidity is lower (so rainfall is less), the growing season is shorter and drought is more common. It causes some other problems also, the loss of fish has also greatly reduced dietary variety, worsening malnutrition and anemia, particularly in pregnant women. Humans can quickly wreck the natural environment, but repairing it is a long, arduous process. Planners must cautiously evaluate the consequences of large-scale interference in natural systems before starting any action, which the Soviet Union did not do. The natural environment is amazingly resilient, so do not abandon hope or efforts to save it. Many pundits wrote off the Aral Sea as doomed, but substantial parts of it are now being ecologically restored.