T HE A RAL, C ASPIAN, AND D EAD S EAS. By: Bethany Dowd, Savanna Martin, Ravyn Betts, and Anna Yarbrough.

T HE D EAD S EA The Dead Sea has been drying up over the last century, roughly around 70 feet since The cause for the sudden dryness is human water consumption and evaporation. Less water is available to the people in the area. Studies show that a long time ago, during a fairly warm season, the lake did dry up, but it obviously came back. So the Dead Sea may die, but no one said it can’t be resurrected.

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T HE A RAL S EA The reason for the Aral Sea drying up is because of the Soviet Union’s desire to develop huge cotton plantations. Cotton remains the main source of income for many newly independent republic, though without the sea, the fishing economy will decrease rapidly and it leaves layers of salty sand which winds carry away, causing health problems. The World Bank and Kazakh government aims to reverse the decades of desiccation with the revival of the sea, an 85 million renovation, culminating an 8 mile dam across the northern part of the sea.

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C ASPIAN S EA Reduced river flow is the main factor in causing the sea level to drop. Dam construction and the expansion of irrigation are also leading factor. Economic losses because of the damage in the fishing industry. Soviet plans have shifted away from gigantic dams and huge reservoirs, towards a system of more modest barrages and canals leading eventually, perhaps, to a water grid in European Russia and Western Siberia.

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