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© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
The Aral Sea (between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) is still listed as
the fourth largest lake in the world. But it has been shrinking for decades.
And it may have about half of the surface area that is given in the almanacs
and encyclopedias. That would make it somewhere from 6th to 10th place (as
there are numerous large lakes of about the same area).
The rivers that feed the Aral Sea are largely diverted to irrigate farm land. So, much less water enters the lake. The fish that once lived in the lake have all died out, largely because of the lake's saltiness.
The water that does make it to the Aral Sea has contained a lot of pesticides. The pesticides sank to the bottom of the lake. As the lake dried up, this layer of pesticide became a poisonous dust, which blows in the wind. Some local people and animals have probably been dying from this.
In 1980, a program was begun, to try to refill the lake. I have not heard if they have made any progress.
In the New York Public Library's Science Desk Reference, the Aral Sea is ranked 6th in area.