Many different solutions to the different problems have been suggested over the years, ranging in feasibility and cost, including the following:

Improving the quality of irrigation canals;
Installing desalination plants;
Charging farmers to use the water from the rivers;
Using alternative cotton species that require less water;
Using fewer chemicals on the cotton
Redirecting water from the Volga, Ob and Irtysh rivers. This would restore the Aral Sea to its former size in 20-30 years at a cost of US$30-50 billion.

In January 1994, the countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan signed a deal to pledge 1% of their budgets to helping the sea recover. By 2006, the World Bank's restoration projects especially in the North Aral were giving rise to some unexpected, tentative relief in what had been an extremely pessimistic picture.