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DAM-L River Indus: Flow has receded, resulting in acute shortage of water(fwd)



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Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 15:12:01 -0600
Subject: River Indus: Flow has receded, resulting in acute shortage of
	 water
To: dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca
Message-ID: <20011112151531.SM01118@mail.iatp.org>

Right to Water (right-to-water@iatp.org)    Posted: 11/12/2001  By  svarghese@iatp.org	
============================================================



The mighty Indus, the lifeline of civilisations for ages,
is dying a slow death rendering the lives of thousands dependent on it
for survival in a precarious condition, reports Massoud Ansari

The mighty Indus, till only a few years ago, was a cornucopia of
riches for the fishermen who lived along its banks. The principal
source of their bounty was 'palla' fish, which is unique to this
river. Says a fisherman, "Sometimes we caught so much fish that it was
difficult for us to pull our nets out. We never considered buying
agricultural land which was cheaply available or even educating our
children because we believed that the river would always take care of
us."

The unthinkable has happened, however. The water of the Indus, which
used to flow freely into the Arabian Sea, has now receded. Since 1995,
the Indus Basin has been undergoing a dry cycle and very little
run-off is generated in the Indus catchments. This has resulted in
severe drought conditions.

The acute shortage of water has shaken the props of the national
economy because of poor agricultural activity. The effects of this
water shortage can also be seen in the scarcity of drinking water, the
outbreak of diseases due to inadequate or contaminated supplies of
water in parts of the country and the widely ignored but equally
important environmental degradation.

But it is the story of individual fishermen in Hyderabad, a town in
southern Pakistan, which brings home the serious implications of the
situation. According to one estimate, over 50 per cent of the
fishermen, who had lived along the Indus for generations have migrated
to look for alternative sources of income.

The fact that the river is also the source of drinking water for the
villagers around Hyderabad has added to their problems. For instance,
the water trickling from the pipes in Sain Dino Malah village is
practically unusable. "It is filthy and foul-smelling. When we try to
boil it, a layer of scum forms on its surface, so now we use it only
in the toilets," says a village woman. Many women from these villages
walk miles to get drinking water from a hand pump, where they have to
wait in long queues.

In such a scenario, it is hardly surprising that diseases like
diarrhoea and jaundice are rampant. For instance, Guzbano, an aged,
asthmatic widow, puts her palms together, begging for alms. She is
trying to collect enough money to get her daughter-in-law operated for
stones in the kidney. Her kidney stones have been attributed to the
polluted water that she has been consuming for the last couple of
years.

At another level, fresh water inflow from the river is required to
abate the tidal impact of the sea. But with the Indus drying up, tidal
waves from the sea are resulting in accumulation of chlorides in the
soil and making it unusable for farming. Also with regular tidal
impact, there has been a lot of soil erosion. As a result, many
coastal areas have become a part of the sea. According to the Sindh
Irrigation Department, seawater intrusion has resulted in a tidal
infringement of over 12,20,360 acres of land in the Indus Delta - 33
per cent of the total land in the two districts of Badin and Thatta in
southern Sindh.

Besides the fishing industry, the water crisis has affected the
agriculture sector as well in the rest of the province. Last year, the
shortage resulted in nearly 40 per cent less area being cultivated.
The sowing of cotton normally commences in mid-March in the lower
Sindh province, but this year, these areas have not been cultivated
till end-April. The same is true of the paddy-growing areas in upper
Sindh where the season for preparing nurseries starts by the end of
March. But since the government has announced that there will not be
enough water, no paddy has been sown so far.

Women's Feature Service







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