Vanishing Aral Sea receives billions of cubic meters of water

Kazakhstani authorities have accelerated the supply of irrigation water to the Aral Sea, feeding the dying lake with two billion cubic meters between January and October 2024, whereas in June, the body of water got 1.1 billion cubic meters.

According to the country’s cabinet, for the first time in five years, an annual plan for supplying water to the Aral Sea was nearly fulfilled. In previous years, the sea received about 350 million cubic meters of water annually. However, between January and October this year, it received five times as much. In June alone, 1.1 billion cubic meters were supplied, with the volume doubling by September.

«The North Aral Sea now holds 22 billion cubic meters of water. During previous irrigation seasons, we supplied the sea with 7 to 10 cubic meters of water per second. This time, the rate has increased tenfold to 60 to 70 cubic meters per second,» explained Zeinolla Kaztoganov, deputy head of the Aral-Syrdarya basin inspection.

The cabinet clarified that thanks to the extensive freshwater supply, the Aral Sea has become less saline, which stimulated the growth of the fish population. The annual catch used to be around 400 tons; however, now fishermen report catches of roughly 8,000 tons of fish, authorities reported.

The Ministry of Water Resources of Kazakhstan has pledged to supply an additional 500 million cubic meters of freshwater to the Aral Sea by the end of the year. This effort is part of the North Aral Sea Development and Revitalization Project, which is being carried out in collaboration with the World Bank. Earlier this summer, Kazakhstan, along with several other countries, agreed to supply 997 million cubic meters of water to the North Aral Sea each irrigation season. The plan for this year has already been fulfilled.