Travis, what is "destruction", there are whole villages and commerce that was affected by the altering of the sea. To quote another article on this, the "event is not only fascinating, but it's a lesson to how quickly entire ecosystems (and the societies that rely on them) can collapse. The Aral sea was once surrounded by villages that relied on the Aral seas fisheries. Those towns are now all but deserted, and fishing boats sit on dry land."

There may be other benefits from diverting the water that may or may not be sustainable, but the diverting of the water did cause the destruction of the sea and the