Valerie’s Piece #1: When Water Turns to Sand
Valerie’s dystopian, Mad Max-ian first story aired as part of The Sunday Story series on Up First. She takes us to Central Asia to investigate why the Aral Sea has all but disappeared. Her 17-year-old tour guide Aysulu takes her to the Amu Darya river, which is “thick and murky like coffee with milk.”
“Everyone here is a historian of water,” Valerie observes.
17-year-old Aysulu walks along the dried riverbed of the Amu Darya, near her home in Nukus, Uzbekistan. Photo Credit: Claire Harbage/NPR