<P> In the early 1960s , the Soviet government decided the two rivers that fed the Aral Sea , the Amu Darya in the south and the Syr Darya in the east , would be diverted to irrigate the desert , in an attempt to grow rice , melons , cereals , and cotton . </P>
where does the aral sea get its water from
the Amu Darya in the south and the Syr Darya in the east