The reason for the rise officials say is the result of less water being taken from the river that feeds the northern part of the sea, and a local initiative to build a dam on one side of the basin to hold the waters in. Waters rising Desperate to stop the sea draining into the larger basin further south, locals constructed a 14km-long dyke. Leaching salt has poisoned the land Parts of the dam made of sand and have been swept away on several occasions. But the rest has held and officials say in the past year alone, the level of the Little Aral has risen by more than three metres. Now the World Bank is considering funding a permanent structure as part of a larger scheme to conserve the waters of the Syr Darya, one of the two mighty rivers that fed the Aral.
Few people believe the project can restore what was once one of the world's biggest inland seas.
But at least they say it might save one small part of it. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.