north. It’s expected that the Large Aral may split again. The sea’s

once slightly brackish waters have reached such high salinity levels

that native fish species were extirpated long ago. The Large Aral is

not dead yet, but it’s in a death spiral that appears impossible to

overcome (figs. 2.1 and 2.2).

The Aral Sea’s demise is one of the greatest environmental

crimes ever committed and a depressing example of water arro-

gance run amuck. It shows the damaging effects that shortsighted

water policies can have on people, the economy, and the environ-

ment. To residents of the Great Lakes region, and of other water-

rich parts of the world, the Aral Sea disaster serves as a reminder

that the largest bodies of water on earth are vulnerable to overex-

ploitation. “The Aral Sea is a dramatic example of what happens

when you take abundant water for granted and suck, and suck, and

suck and eventually it goes dry,” says Noah Hall, a professor at

Wayne State University. “It’s everyone’s worst nightmare.” The

Aral’s woes show that if humans put their minds to it, a great body

of water can be decimated in less than a generation. “The Aral Sea

26

T h e G r e a t L a k e s Wa t e r Wa r s

Fig. 2.1. Located in the heart of Central Asia, the Aral Sea straddles the

boundary between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. (Randy Yeip of the Knight Cen-

ter for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University)