Some believe that the condition of the Aral sea was changed purposely. The Soviet Ministry of Land and Water Resources felt the need to create a problem which to solve. By diverting water from the rivers feeding the Aral Sea, the volume of the Aral would begin to decrease and the size of the sea would shrink. Solving the problem meant building a huge canal to divert major rivers from Siberia, the Ob and Irtysh, to the Aral Sea. This was to be the Siberal Canal. It would have been 2500 km in length. The building of this canal would have created a huge numbers of jobs. The project was abandoned in 1986 by Gorbachev, because it was too expensive. Unfortunately, a lack of communication existed among the Ministry. The water meant for the Aral Sea continued to be diverted for agriculture, even after the canal project was abandoned. This was probably due to the Soviets obsession to be self sufficient and produce crops for export. Cotton is the region's only cash crop, so they couldn't stop growing it for export. Some in the former Soviet Union believe the destruction of the Aral was planned, and that it was intended from the beginning to be turned into a giant rice paddy.

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