Syr Darya, also spelled Syrdarya, Kazak Syrdarīya, Tajik Daryoi Sir, Uzbek Sirdaryo, ancient name Jaxartes, river in the Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. The Syr Darya is formed by the confluence of the Naryn and Qoradaryo rivers in the eastern Fergana Valley and generally flows northwest until it empties into the Aral Sea. With a length of 1,374 miles (2,212 km)—1,876 miles (3,019 km) including the Naryn—the Syr Darya is the longest river in Central Asia, but it carries less water than the Amu Darya. Its watershed is not clearly defined except in its upper course, where it drains a basin of 178,000 square miles (462,000 square km). Most of the Syr Darya’s tributaries in the Fergana Valley fail to reach it because they are used fully for irrigation.
After leaving the Fergana Valley the river flows northwest, receiving the Ohangaron, Chirchiq, Keles, and Arys rivers on the right. In its middle and lower reaches it follows a meandering course through the eastern outskirts of the Kyzylkum Desert, frequently changing its bed, forming channels that often lose themselves in the sands, and overflowing its low banks at flood. It is fed in its upper mountainous basin mainly by snow and to a lesser extent by glaciers, and high water lasts from March or April to September. The Syr Darya carries a considerable amount of silt, much of which it deposits in the vicinity of Qazaly, Kazakhstan. The river freezes in its lower reaches from December to March.
There are a number of hydroelectric power stations on the Syr Darya and its tributaries, of which the largest are the Farhod (in Uzbekistan), Qayroqqum (Tajikistan), and Shardara (Kazakhstan) stations on the main stream and, in Uzbekistan, the Chorwoq station on the Chirchiq River and the Uchqŭrghon station on the Naryn River. There are also dams in Kazakhstan at Qyzylorda and Qazaly. The Toktogul hydroelectric power station, which was constructed on the Naryn River in the 1970s and expanded in the ’80s, regulates the river’s flow. As much as 5,000,000 acres (2,000,000 hectares) of land are irrigated by the Syr Darya and its tributaries, with cotton the chief crop in the Fergana Valley and the Syr Darya’s middle course and rice in the river’s lower reaches.
The diversion of water from the Syr Darya for irrigation contributed to the shrinkage of the Aral Sea in the latter part of the 20th century. By the 1990s the flow of the Syr Darya along its lower reaches was much reduced during the whole year. The gradual retreat of the Aral Sea shoreline and the drying up of the Syr Darya’s deltaic region exposed toxic fertilizer and salt residues to the winds, devastating local plant and animal life and causing serious health problems among the human population.