Many Karakalpaks must get their drinking water from drainage canals, which are almost always dangerously contaminated with bacteria and chemicals. In the evenings, the roads are filled with people toting jugs and buckets to and from these canals. In one district Falzon studied, diarrheal disease increased seven fold over the previous year. Such diseases, which kill hundreds of Karakalpak children every year, are usually spread through contaminated drinking water. The lean harvests will also hurt people in other ways.
Cottonseed oil is a staple of the local diet, and with supplies low, prices have risen sharply.
And in rural areas, many depend on cotton plant stems for cooking and heating during the winter. The leftovers from the rice harvest are usually fed to cattle in the winter. This fall, Falzon produced a report on the drought. Many farmers told him they had slaughtered livestock because the animals were dying of thirst. For people living close to the bone, such a decision is not taken lightly.