By 2010, only 8 percent of the Aral Sea remained, which was once the world's fourth-largest lake. The depletion of this natural resource was due to
(1 point)
• installation of a desalination plant.
• demand for cotton products.
• evaporation due to climate change.
• using the lake as a dump for solid waste.
• mass consumption of bottled water.
3 answers
• demand for cotton products.
Why though?
The depletion of the Aral Sea was primarily due to the demand for cotton products in the region. The Soviet government instituted large-scale irrigation projects in the 1960s to transform the desert in the region into farmland for cotton cultivation. This led to the diversion of the two main rivers that fed the Aral Sea, greatly reducing its inflow of water. The increased water usage for agriculture combined with limited replenishment from the rivers caused the lake to shrink rapidly over the following decades.
1 answer