Not Factoring in, Environmental Destruction with Good Intentions

Not Factoring in, Environmental Destruction with Good Intentions

by Phu Ho 

The Aral Sea (left) taken in 1989 and (right) taken in 2014

  There is an old saying that “water is life”, so it would be logical that the amount of water and the quality of water correlate with the quantity of life and the quality of life.  Throughout human history, people always use sources of water to build a better life for themselves.  People have always built water-related projects for the betterment of society.  In recent history, water-related projects are built by three groups of people: the science people, the engineers, and the politicians.  The science people like geologists, chemists, and ecologists would study the surrounding area where the water-related project would take place and give data, prediction, and feedback on how the projects affect the area.  The engineers would design the structure, such as a dam.  And the politicians approve the projects and give permission to start the projects.  Sounds easy right? What could possibly go wrong?  There are cases in modern history that water-related projects caused environmental disasters due to an over looked or disregarded factor.

In the 1950’s, the Aral Sea was one of the four largest lakes in the world.  Located in Central Asia, between Southern Kazakhslan and Northern Uzbekistan; the Aral Sea covered over 26,000 square miles.  During this time, the Soviet Union decided to dam off the Amu Darya River and the Syr Darya River to divert water that was feeding the Aral Sea to crop fields, mainly cotton.  Many miles of canals where dug to guide the divert water to the crop fields.  Due to an engineer flaw, a cascade of environmental and ecological disasters followed. 

The engineering design flaw was that the canals that guide the water to the fields were not waterproof, thus up to 75% of the water was wasted by getting absorbed into the ground and never made it to fields.  However, the crop production was successful.  If the canals were waterproof, the water diversion project would have only needed 25% of the water feeding the Aral Sea.  So, due to the engineering flaw and mishandling of water; the Aral Sea was depraved of water.  This lead to a salinity level increase in the sea water and loss of most of the sea from evaporation.  Prior to the 1960’s, the Aral Sea region was home to about 24 fish species, 200 invertebrates, and 180 land animals.  There were fishing boats in the sea and a thriving community by the sea.  Now, all the native fish are dead, about 30 invertebrate species, and a few dozen land animals species survived.  The Aral Sea is a now mostly a salty desert with remains of ships scattering about.

Without water, the sea began to desiccate.  The Aral Sea turned into a desert.  The soil in the area of the sea had so much salt that the land could not support plant life.  The desiccation of the Aral Sea created dust storms and salt storms in the region.  And with little water remained, a study showed that from 1960 to 2000, the average temperature in the region increased on average of 2°C to 6°C during the summer.  The dust storms and salt storms coated mountain glaciers, causing a decrease in an overall of ice built up, which also contributed to temperature changes.  In addition, the United Nations reported salt storms have damaged 46% of Uzbekistan’s irrigated land.  The people of this nation have to depend on their neighbor country, Kygyzstan for fresh water.  All the disasters could of been avoided. There was enough water for both the crop fields and the Aral Sea, if only the engineers waterproofed the canals.

Fast forward to 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used heavy machinery to make a safe way into the old mine in Colorado. They wanted to access the contaminated water, so they could investigate and treat the water to make it less metal polluted.  Ironically, through carelessness or by incompetence, the plug holding in the polluted mine water was released.  They failed to factor in a safety rule when working around such a plug.  That caused the spill of 3 million gallons of metal polluted water into the Colorado River and the San Juan River, turning them pale yellow.  The EPA tested the water and the results came back with a higher level of lead and arsenic. This is another environmental disaster with good intentions.

There is a river diversion project called the Mid-Barateria Mississippi River Diversion Project in the works for the future of Louisiana’s wetlands.  Its goal is to feed the Barateria Basin with sediment to help restore Louisiana’s wetlands.  The basin was disconnected from the river since the 1930's by levees. This time people not factoring in that the Mississippi River is full of pollutants could cause a cascade of environmental and ecological disasters. These pollutants such as arsenic, bezene, phosphorous, uranium, fertilizer, and other chemicals could cause unknown harmful effects upon the wetlands' plants and animals.  The Barataria Basin makes up 72% of Louisiana freshwater commercial fishing industry.  If the chemicals make the fish, crabs, shrimps, and oysters toxic, many people who eat them could become sick, restaurants that serve the seafood would go out of business, and the fishermen, crabbers, shrimpers, and oystermen would lose their livelihoods. The EPA and state governments should at least clean up the Mississippi River first before releasing the  Mississippi River water into the Barateria Basin to prevent an array of environmental disasters and public illnesses.  People should look at a problem from all possible angles, from scientific study to engineering study.  Politicians should  give consideration to all the studies in regards to water projects, not just the ones that fit their agendas. Edmund Burke, a British statesman and philosopher once said, "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."  It seems that people never learn.

 Work Cited

Lydia Ramsey. “The EPA accidentally ripped a hole in a toxic mine in Colorado — it ruined a river and people are furious.” Business Insider Magazine. August 11, 2015. http://www.businessinsider.com/epa-caused-colorado-river-disaster-2015-8  Accessed 29 Apr. 2018

The Aral Sea Crisis. Columbia University.  http://www.columbia.edu/~tmt2120/introduction.htm . Accessed 29 Apr. 2018

John R. Garbarino et al. "Heavy Metals in the Mississippi River." Contaminants in the Mississippi River U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 1995. https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1995/circ1133/heavy-metals.html . Accessed 30 Apr. 2018

 

Caffey, Rex and Janis Breaux. “Portrait of an Estuary: Functions and Values of the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary System.” Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, http://www.lsuagcenter.com/~/media/system/5/6/3/5/5635979f07fb448d940949504037497a/pub2802estuary2.pdf Accessed 13 Apr. 2018.

“Louisiana’s Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast.” Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, Office of the Governor: Coastal Activities, 2 June 2017, coastal.la.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-Coastal-Master-Plan_Web-Book_CFinl-with-Effective-Date-06092017.pdf . Accessed 13 Apr. 2018.