Simple really. Try to think of a way to reverse some of the downfall of the Aral Sea so it is still at least somewhat there.
AHC: Save the Aral Sea
- Thread starter Andrew Boyd: Duke of Dank
- Start date
Make Uzbekistan an actual democracy instead of the same people and a cursorily different constitution.
Well the only real way to save the Aral is to avoid the water redirections and or the soviets are much smarter about things and actually monitor what is going on and set limits to the amount that can be diverted to manage the resource more responsibly.
Otherwise its all mute
Modern solution . Put the water back
As others have alluded.. Making Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan care about the health of the Aral would be useful too.
Remember that the soviets also had a large scale bio weapons facility on an island (rebirth I belive )
Place Need's water to keep all the pollution where its at.
At least Kazakhstan is making an effort with the North Aral
Otherwise its all mute
Modern solution . Put the water back
As others have alluded.. Making Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan care about the health of the Aral would be useful too.
Remember that the soviets also had a large scale bio weapons facility on an island (rebirth I belive )
Place Need's water to keep all the pollution where its at.
At least Kazakhstan is making an effort with the North Aral
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Aral is a lake, Arial is a font 
IMO, we have two eras to make something out of it. 1st is the Soviet era, one of Siberian rivers (Ishim or Tobol) is diverted by a channell towards Central Asia. 2nd, in 'democratic' era, the new republics actually care about ecology, and water preservation is order of the day.
IMO, we have two eras to make something out of it. 1st is the Soviet era, one of Siberian rivers (Ishim or Tobol) is diverted by a channell towards Central Asia. 2nd, in 'democratic' era, the new republics actually care about ecology, and water preservation is order of the day.
Both are doubtfulAral is a lake, Arial is a font
IMO, we have two eras to make something out of it. 1st is the Soviet era, one of Siberian rivers (Ishim or Tobol) is diverted by a channell towards Central Asia. 2nd, in 'democratic' era, the new republics actually care about ecology, and water preservation is order of the day.
Honestly the only thing making any of them Care is that the dried lake bed is so polluted and the fact that it was a fresh water lake and the loss in economic value in the area was a disaster.
The rest again boils down to the fact that the sea bed is highly toxic
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And all phone typos aside . It's just one of a number if ecological disasters chalked up to mismanagement and neglect during the last 110 years.Aral is a lake, Arial is a font
IMO, we have two eras to make something out of it. 1st is the Soviet era, one of Siberian rivers (Ishim or Tobol) is diverted by a channell towards Central Asia. 2nd, in 'democratic' era, the new republics actually care about ecology, and water preservation is order of the day.
Colorado River is another that has been averted . Salton sea another .
There are many others.
But here we are looking at the fourth largest lake on the planet {depending on how you look at them}
And its basically gone. For cotton
Yay for progress of the worker
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...a-depression-1957.423990/page-5#post-18517169
That is a simpler project than saving the Aral Sea yet it is not implemented. Therefore, this thread of alternate history makes sense.
How about diverting the water from Caspian Sea to Aral Sea? Note please that Caspian Sea itself is also drying up.
Also, Garabogazköl is an inlet of the Caspian Sea and hold much higher salinity than Caspian water. Why so? If Garabogazköl achieves its high salinity by concentration of Caspian water, that mechanism can be exploited.
Borrowing the idea of diverting Mediterranean water to the Qattara Depression in that related project, can a canal be built by connecting existing and redirecting existing rivers and lake from the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov? Then when the ocean water from Mediterranean thru Black Sea and Azov might reach the Caspian, the Garabogazköl would have concentrated the salinity.
Then water managements are done in:
1) connecting existing and redirecting water flow from the Sea of Azov to Caspian
2) damming the Garabogazköl periodically so its salinity can be mined for profit. Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Chlorine and Bromine are all useful minerals.
3) connecting the Garabogazköl and other inlets near the Caspian Sea to the Aral Sea.
They are huge engineering efforts to say the least.
Not to mention, the Qattara Depression project can take place concurrently. Both projects would be extracting ocean water and contribute to lowering the increasing seawater level and the water evaporation of Caspian and Aral Sea.
That is a simpler project than saving the Aral Sea yet it is not implemented. Therefore, this thread of alternate history makes sense.
How about diverting the water from Caspian Sea to Aral Sea? Note please that Caspian Sea itself is also drying up.
Also, Garabogazköl is an inlet of the Caspian Sea and hold much higher salinity than Caspian water. Why so? If Garabogazköl achieves its high salinity by concentration of Caspian water, that mechanism can be exploited.
Borrowing the idea of diverting Mediterranean water to the Qattara Depression in that related project, can a canal be built by connecting existing and redirecting existing rivers and lake from the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov? Then when the ocean water from Mediterranean thru Black Sea and Azov might reach the Caspian, the Garabogazköl would have concentrated the salinity.
Then water managements are done in:
1) connecting existing and redirecting water flow from the Sea of Azov to Caspian
2) damming the Garabogazköl periodically so its salinity can be mined for profit. Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Chlorine and Bromine are all useful minerals.
3) connecting the Garabogazköl and other inlets near the Caspian Sea to the Aral Sea.
They are huge engineering efforts to say the least.
Not to mention, the Qattara Depression project can take place concurrently. Both projects would be extracting ocean water and contribute to lowering the increasing seawater level and the water evaporation of Caspian and Aral Sea.
Caspian Lake's surface elevation is under the level of the sea, a depression of 22 meters. Aral Lake's surface elevation at lowest level is perhaps 20 m above sea level? That means someone needs to pump water upwards to cater for 42 meters of height difference just to cover the current loss.
A change of plan:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzboy#/media/File:XXth_Century_Citizen's_Atlas_map_of_Central_Asia.png
2) Garabogazköl is used as the pond to extract minerals but no water is directed out of it to feed the Aral Sea
3) In the past, the Amu Draya drains to the Caspian sea via the Uzboy.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzboy
Now a dry river channel and a center for archaeological excavations, the Uzboy flowed some 750 kilometres (470 mi), from a branch in the Amu Darya River via Sarykamysh Lake to the Caspian Sea. In the early 1950s, construction work started to build a major irrigation canal roughly along the river bed of the former Uzboy. However, the project was abandoned soon after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953.
The dry river canal of the Uzboy is used to drain Caspian water to the Amu Darya then to the Aral Sea.
So this part 3) is more or less revitalizing the effort during JS's governance. For comparison, Suez Canal is about 193.3km.
Have the Soviets give a shit about the consequences of their cotton cultivation in Central Asia - they knew it would dry up the Aral Sea and they CELEBRATED IT. Thought it would be a monument to Communism's conquest of nature.
If they wanted to save it they could literally just let the water flow again. They had intentions to redirect some other water to fill it back in but the reality is as long as the amount of people (or rather the amount of dollars) from diverting it is more than those who rely on the lake (especially since they have no political capital) it'll be in the interest of the state to dry it up
Vuu
Banned
In a true Soviet-style thing, they do the Northern river reversal, AND improve the quality of the canals (most of the water loss was due to shoddy construction, resulting in a bunch of accidental reservoirs). Then, wait for it, they overfill it so the Uzboy river is restored, and the Aral becomes freshwater. Bam, the region is turned into oasis. IF they go real extreme they could dig through the Manych to flood the Caspian as well, bringing some water inland (but it wouldn't be much useful, it would flood the more useful lands while sparing the useless)
Vuu
Banned
Not much I think. The Uzboy used to be a permanent river until relatively recently due to climate changes (in ancient times it was an important trade route), in the 19th century it only occurred at unusually wet times
Have the laws of physics changed overnight, so now the water can flow upstream?
Panama Canal uses dams to bring ships upstream and then downstream.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_river_reversal#/media/File:Russland_Dawydow.PNG
The layout of one of the main proposed water transfer routes (via a Yenisei–Ob canal, down the Ob, up the Irtysh and Ishim, and then via a canal to the Aral Sea basin). The plan would involve other canals (not shown) to take the water further south.
A meta-reading of the previous post is what aspects of alternate history readers like you are looking for.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_river_reversal#/media/File:Russland_Dawydow.PNG
The layout of one of the main proposed water transfer routes (via a Yenisei–Ob canal, down the Ob, up the Irtysh and Ishim, and then via a canal to the Aral Sea basin). The plan would involve other canals (not shown) to take the water further south.
A meta-reading of the previous post is what aspects of alternate history readers like you are looking for.
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