Heroic river diversion plan resurrected.Supporters of an ambitious Russian river diversion plan think they can revive the Aral Sea Aral Sea (ăr`əl), salt lake, SW Kazakhstan and NW Uzbekistan, E of the Caspian Sea in an area of interior drainage. To the north and west are the edges of the arid Ustyurt Plateau; the Kyzyl Kum desert stretches to the southeast. , bolster the flagging economies of certain unstable central Asian states, and forestall abrupt climate change Abrupt climate change refers to an event where large and widespread shift in climate occurs within a short period, perhaps a decade. The phrase was coined because of worldwide, centuries-long events seen in ice cores of past climate. , in one stroke. As reported in New Scientist, their plan--a revived Soviet scheme to divert water from the Ob and Irtysh rivers to the Aral region via a 2,500-kilometer canal--would channel the water to cotton plantations in arid Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. All want to increase cotton output, and weakness in their cotton-based economies could contribute to political instability in this sensitive region. [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Backers also argue that some of the water could go to the dying Aral Sea, which has been strangled stran·gle v. stran·gled, stran·gling, stran·gles v.tr. 1. a. To kill by squeezing the throat so as to choke or suffocate; throttle. b. by the diversion of most of the flow of the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers to cotton fields. And they say that the Ob and Irtysh are pouring more fresh water into the Arctic Sea than they used to, jeopardizing the "global conveyor" of salty ocean currents that keep Europe's climate temperate. Diversion could help avert that risk, they argue. Opponents see the plan as another heroic-scale boondoggle boon·dog·gle Informal n. 1. An unnecessary or wasteful project or activity. 2. a. A braided leather cord worn as a decoration especially by Boy Scouts. b. , a prescription for ecological disaster, a means for Russia to reassert its power in the region, and a bribe for the governments there, which have allowed existing irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. canals to degrade so badly that up to 60 percent of the water they carry leaks away. Opponents doubt that any of the diverted water would get to the Aral Sea, which has lost three-quarters of its volume since 1960. The Ob diversion plan merely extends the intensive irrigation schemes that have long characterized agriculture in the region, practices that have led to waterlogged wa·ter·logged adj. 1. Nautical Heavy and sluggish in the water because of flooding, as in the hold: a waterlogged ship. 2. and salinized soils as well as to groundwater contamination with pesticides and fertilizers. The plan faces many obstacles, but Russian Federation Russian Federation: see Russia. President Vladimir Putin reportedly wants to leave the diversion canal as a monument to his rule. |
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