From Aral Sea Stories, 2019
BY Peter Cusack
Story 1: The shrinking of the Aral Sea
Sixty years ago the Aral Sea in Central Asia was the planet's fourth largest lake. Today, it has almost disappeared, a victim of vast Soviet irrigation schemes that diverted too much water from its source rivers far upstream. It is one of the 20th century’s largest and least known, environmental disasters. The consequences have been extremely wide: the very productive Aral fishing industry collapsed, forcing many people to emigrate for work elsewhere; salt dust from the dry sea bed blows thousands of kilometers causing salinization of agricultural land and affecting human health; changed weather has meant less rain, more dust storms and higher summer temperatures; and wildlife populations are dramatically affected.
Story 13: Ice Bells – 7’08”
The tinkling, clicking of Ice Bells is a sound connected to climate change.
For the story of this sound, follow this link.
Story 11: Ship’s graveyard – 3’25”
When the Aral Sea dried up, large fishing boats were left to rust and decay in places known as the Ship Graveyard. For the story of this sound, follow this link.
Aral Sea Thoughts
Another story: Another vodka bottle
Everywhere in this landscape, together with the brittle bushes, the tough grasses, unexpected flowers and distant horizons there are always empty vodka bottles. After the longest walk, in the remotest spot, once again another vodka bottle.
NOTES:
The equipment used was a Nagra P2+ audio recorder with DPA4060 and Sennheiser MKH418 microphones.
It’s a very portable battery operated system.
My guide around the Aral region was Serik Duissenbayev.
As well as the 3 trips to the Aral Sea in 2013/14/15 I also visited Kyrgyzstan in 2018. This was to make recordings and talk to people along the river Naryn, which is one of the principal source rivers for the Syr Darya and ultimately the Aral Sea. I went fairly high into the mountains to record melting snow where the water starts its journey and also to Shamadly Sai the border town between Kyrgyzstan and Uzebekistan where the last in a chain of 5 hydro-electric dams, known as the Naryn Cascade, is placed. These were built during Soviet times and effect water flow, although not disastrously so. The cotton plantation irrigation systems lower down in the Fergana Valley were the main cause of the Aral drying up.