Water pollution in Kazakhstanby Amina Kabdyrakym | 10-12-2020 18:30 |
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Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia, but it is in the most troublesome situation in terms of water supply. First of all, The Aral Sea disappears. It was the fourth-largest lake in the world. The fourth part by area and the tenth by volume remained from it. Now, these are practically two shallow water bodies. The reason is the intake of water from the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya, which replenished for irrigation. The ecological problem of the Aral Sea has many consequences. The salt concentration in water has increased 14 times. The former bottom of the sea is full of salt marshes, and salt from their surface is carried by the wind for hundreds of kilometers and causes erosion of lands far from here. The concentration in the water increased not only of salt but also of toxic substances, which flowed down from fertilized agricultural lands into the rivers. These ruined the commercial fishing in the lake. Since the 1980s, it has ceased to exist. Lake Balkhash causes concern: it may repeat the fate of the Aral Sea. It is a unique reservoir. In its various parts, it is filled with fresh and saltwater. Since the 1960s of the last century, environmental problems of Lake Balkhash began: it began to grow shallow, the water level dropped by more than two meters. The area has decreased by two thousand square kilometers. Salt marshes are also formed here. Industrial emissions and sewage from cities on its banks are slowly killing Balkhash. The Balkhash copper smelter has placed hundreds of thousands of tons of waste near the lake. Sulfur dioxide and about a dozen types of hazardous heavy metals enter the waters. Environmental problems of the Caspian Sea also concern Kazakhstan. A dangerous tendency is observed in the waters of the sea: it loses its ability to purify itself, which can turn a once clean reservoir into a settling tank. The reason is human activity. Its peculiarity here is oil production on the coast and underwater on platforms far out to sea. |
