Turkmenistan is artificially creating a vast lake in the desert

Ashgabat - Turkmenistan wants to create a lake in the midst of a dry and barren desert. It has started bringing water from several hundred kilometers away. This was reported today by Turkmen state media. Some experts fear that this endeavor could unleash an ecological disaster.
Turkmen engineers are channeling water from irrigated cotton fields on the opposite side of the country into the desert through a network of canals, filling a natural depression called Karašor in a remote northern region in an attempt to create the Golden Age Lake. According to experts, this should bring life to the arid Karakum desert.
At a ceremonial event on Wednesday, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov dug a trench with a shovel that opened the way for water to flow from a tributary canal into the future lake. On this occasion, he stated that the desert would bloom due to the lake.
After the ceremony, Berdymukhamedov mounted a horse adorned with jewelry, a gift from the employees of the water management industry, waved to the crowd, and trotted off to a waiting helicopter nearby.
According to Turkmen leadership, the vast lake will drain the waterlogged cotton fields and contribute to vegetation growth in the desert, attracting migratory birds.
Critics express contempt for the water project, claiming that the water from the cotton fields is full of toxic pesticides and fertilizers. Some experts are also convinced that the water will quickly evaporate in the desert heat.
The grandeur of the project is not unusual in Turkmenistan, a post-Soviet Central Asian republic notorious for the eccentricities of its late leader, dictator Saparmurat Niyazov, who also proposed the artificial creation of a lake before his death in 2006.
Niyazov, who turned Turkmenistan into one of the most repressive regimes in the world, had a series of extravagant buildings constructed in a country where a vast majority of the population still lives in poverty. He squandered millions earned from the sale of natural gas on marble palaces and gold statues depicting himself. He also wrote books describing the golden age of his nation.
His successor, Berdymukhamedov, has removed some of the most glaring manifestations of Niyazov's cult of personality but is increasingly accused of replacing one cult with another.
Once completed, the lake will have an area of 2000 square kilometers, be about 70 meters deep, and contain over 130 billion cubic meters of water. Filling the lake may take up to 15 years and cost about 4.5 billion dollars.
According to an ambitious government plan, the lake will be filled with water flowing through a network of tributary canals stretching 2650 kilometers.
The environment in Central Asian countries has been devastated for decades by Soviet-era irrigation projects. The Aral Sea, which once lay on the borders between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, was once the fourth largest freshwater reservoir in the world. However, it has been gradually drying up due to poor irrigation design intended to supply water to cotton fields. It has shrunk by almost 90 percent.
However, the Turkmen government claims that the Golden Age Lake will contribute to environmental recovery and the sensitive use of water resources. It is also said to prevent damage to archaeological sites located near agricultural fields.
Although it is believed that the Golden Age Lake will be fed with water irrigating fields, some observers fear that Turkmenistan will attempt to divert water from the Syr Darya River, which flows along the Turkmen-Uzbek border. This could spark disputes between the two countries and cause further environmental damage.