The dike is conserving the dwindling waters of the Syr Darya river and maintaining (and attempting to revive) the damaged ecology of the North Aral Sea, at the expense of sealing the fate of the larger South Aral.

However, for the short time that the dike stood, positive changes were already noticed - the climate became milder, and fauna was partly restored.

After the completion of Dike Kokaral, the water level of the North Aral has risen, and its salinity has decreased.

"[4] Economically significant stocks of fish have returned, and observers who had written off the North Aral Sea as an environmental catastrophe were surprised by reports that in 2006 its returning waters already were partly reviving the fishing industry and producing a catch for export as far as Ukraine.

The restoration reportedly gave rise to long-absent rain clouds and possible microclimate changes, bringing tentative hope to an agricultural sector swallowed by a regional dustbowl, and some expansion of the shrunken sea.