The environmental disaster in the Aral Sea basin is a direct result of societal overuse of the water resources of the basin's two major rivers, the Amudarya and the Syrdarya. Societal activities are responsible for serious reductions in both the quantity and the quality of river flow and for negative impacts on the major components of the region's ecosystems which are directly dependent on the availability of surface water. Thus, an assessment of the region's water resources, including changes in their use, is necessary to identify the impact of anthropogenic factors on river flow and to identify hydrological measures that could improve environmental conditions in the basin.

The Aral basin lies in the heart of the Eurasian landmass, far from the direct influences of the oceans. It therefore has a continental climate (i.e., marked seasonality) and an abundance of warm and sunny days. The major part of the basin is covered by the Turan Lowland deserts bordering on the Tien Shan and Pamir-Alai mountains. Glaciers and snowfields are the main sources of water feeding the region's two major rivers – the Amudarya with a catchment area of 1.1 million km2, and the Syrdarya with a catchment area of 0.44 million km2. Unlike the mountainous part of the basin, which is the zone of formation of river flow, the lowlying flat land is a zone where water resources are dissipated as a result of evaporation from both irrigated and natural areas (Shults, 1965).

Irrigation farming ever since the distant past has been the main economic activity in the Aral Sea basin.