Turkmenistan (formerly 'Absurdistan'): Let's Make a Lake in the Desert!

Turkmenistan, to which I gave the moniker "Absurdistan" (or "Berzerkistan" in Doonesbury) during the tenure of its late nutso dictator-megalomaniac Saparmurat Niyazov  (aka 'Turkmenbashi' - 'Father of all Turkmens'), is proceeding with its grand scheme to create a lake in the desert. The plan was hatched by Turkmenbashi, who broke ground in 2000, and will be located in the northwest part of the country, southwest of Sarykamish Lake (see smaller map), in the Karashor Depression. It will be called the Golden Age Lake, and will become "the symbol of revival of the Turkmen land", according to Turkmenbashi.  

The lake will cover about 3500 square kilometers (1,350 square miles), approximately the size of the Great Salt Lake. The lake is supposed to contain 135-145 cubic kilometers of water and be as deep as 130 meters (425 feet).

Water for the lake will come from two drainage canals, which will bring irrigation drainage water from the irrigation projects in the eastern and southeastern parts of the country. These projects are fed by the Amu Darya, the river the roughly forms the boundary with Uzbekistan, and produce primarily cotton.

The Turkmens claim the project will reclaim salt-damaged formerly arable land, protect archaeological sites from being destroyed by salt and rising water tables, create migratory bird habitat and an inland fishery. But the lake's water will be laden with chemicals - it's irrigation return flow, after all. The lake will take decades to fill (if it ever does); critics question whether the lake will fill, because of high evaporation rates and seepage losses.

Another worry is that the Turkmens, in an effort to purify the lake water, will withdraw more water from the Amu Darya, which would not please the Uzbeks. And that's an understatement.

The project may not be a done deal, because since the death of Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan has "opened up" more and is more sensitive to world opinion. New President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow may reconsider the project. After all, I have heard that Turkmenbashi's 12-meter high golden statue that rotated to always face the sun has been dismantled.

I remember attending a Central Asian water meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan, two years ago, when Turkmenbashi was still alive. We were all surprised to see a water engineer from the Turkmenistan government there, as they usually eschewed such meetings. He told us that every request to leave the country had to be personally approved by Turkmenbashi.  

Turkmenistan is #5 in the world in terms of natural gas reserves (this ranking includes reserves over which they are bargaining with other Caspian Sea nations; the CIA ranks them #13). Government officials recently visited Azerbaijan, in part to discuss a trans-Caspian gas pipeline.     

Here is an excellent article from Science with all the information, including a larger version of the thumbnail map:

Download turkmenistan_lake.pdf

"Halk, Watan, Turkmenbashi" ["People, Country, Me"] -- favorite slogan of Saparmurat Niyazov, aka 'Turkmenbashi'

Comments

[David Zetland]

Salton Sea indeed. I can see that the (dead) great leader is still thinking of (how to screw) his people.

[Michael]

Hi, Chris.

You're right on target. I kept thinking of the phrase 'toxic soup'. To my knowledge there aren't even many people who live nearby. It'll just be one huge evaporation pond.

Supposed to cost $6B or so...Must be nice to have money with nothing to spend it on.

[Aqua Blog Maven]

Sounds like a Salton Sea in the making, and we all know how successful that has become!