The
North Aral Sea is the portion of the former
Aral Sea that is fed by the Syr Darya river. It split from the
South Aral Sea in 1987 as water levels dropped due to river diversion for agriculture. A poorly built
Dike Kokaral intended to contain the North Aral Sea and save its fisheries failed twice, but in 2005 the government of
Kazakhstan was able to fund a more robust design. Since then, water levels have risen faster than expected and fish stocks increased. Plans to build a second dike to increase water levels further are due to begin in 2009.
The Aral Sea began shrinking in the 1960s, when the Soviet Union decided that the two rivers feeding it, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, would be diverted to irrigate cotton and food crops in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In 1987, due to an accelerated loss of water, the Aral Sea was split into northern and southern parts; the southern part is the current South Aral Sea.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the government of independent Kazakhstan decided to restore the northern lake fed by Syr Darya. In 2003, the lake was 30 meters (98 feet) in depth and 2,550 square kilometers (985 Square miles) in area; by 2008 it had reached 42 meters (138 feet) in depth and 3,300 square kilometers (1,275 square miles) in area.[1][2]
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