Heroic river diversion plan resurrected.

• Author: Prugh, Tom
• Position: Environmental Intelligence - Ob and Irtysh rivers to the Aral region - Brief Article

Supporters of an ambitious Russian river diversion plan think they can revive the Aral Sea, bolster the flagging economies of certain unstable central Asian states, and forestall abrupt climate change, in one stroke. As reported in New Scientist, their plan--a revived Soviet scheme to divert water from the Ob and Irtysh rivers to the Aral region via a 2,500-kilometer canal--would channel the water to cotton plantations in arid Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. All want to increase cotton output, and weakness in their cotton-based economies could contribute to political instability in this sensitive region.

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Backers also argue that some of the water could go to the dying Aral Sea, which has been strangled by the diversion of most of the flow of the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers to cotton fields. And they say that the Ob and Irtysh are pouring more fresh water into the Arctic Sea than they used to, jeopardizing the "global conveyor" of salty ocean currents that keep Europe's climate temperate. Diversion could help avert that risk, they argue.

Opponents see...