KARACHI: Steps urged to save Indus delta from sea intrusion
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 24: Speakers at a seminar on Wednesday said continued decrease in the flow of water in the Indus River has started taking a heavy toll of marine and wildlife in the downstream area and there is a need for taking remedial measures at the earliest.
They observed that due to zero discharge down the Kotri Barrage up to Sujawal, the area along the delta was turning rapidly into a barren land, while people in Thatta and Badin districts were faced with socio-economic problems and diseases.
The seminar entitled: “Save Indus Delta” was organized by the People’s Doctors Forum with Haji Shafi Mohammad Jamote as chief guest. The president of the forum, Dr Karim Khuwaja, presided over the programme.
It recommended an immediate halt to the controversial water projects, including Kalabagh Dam, Ranu Canal and Thal canal, because, they said, these projects would cast adverse effects on environment, socio-economic conditions of people and ecological system in the Indus delta. The speakers urged the international donor agencies not to provide funds for these controversial projects.
They demanded release of 27 MAF (million-acre feet) water for the downstream Kotri area as suggested by scientists to save the Indus delta, otherwise, they said, Sindh would be at the mercy of sea intrusion within the next 50 years.
The speakers stressed the need for launching woman and child health programmes through international organizations, including WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF and Save the Children fund. They also demanded setting up of micro-credit schemes in the coastal areas for fishermen.
River Indus is considered one of the major water distribution systems in South East Asia in terms of drainage, river discharge and sediment transport. The construction of channels, barrages, embarkments, dikes and dams for hydroelectric power, irrigation and flood control has reduced water discharge into the delta region to about one fifth, while at present little water is allowed down the Kotri barrage for more than ten months of the year.
Prof Mohammad Yar Khuhwar of the University of Sindh, referring to the effects of sea water on the quality of Indus water, said results of sampling undertaken from time to time indicated that with zero discharge down the Kotri Barrage the total dissolved solids in water was rising steeply and had reached the limits of 3200ppm at Sujawal bridge, while the safe limits of 500ppm had been recommended by the WHO for drinking water.
He referred to the international guidelines for irrigation water, which suggested severe effects for water with TDS above 2000ppm. “The Indus below Sujawal bridge comes increasingly under the influence of seawater. Recently, during zero discharge down the Kotri barrage, it was observed that the Indus up to Sujawal bridge had changed into water pools with high salt contents with a growth of aquatic submerged plants of brackish water. The freshwater fish have also decreased due to high salinity within the region,” he maintained.
Dr Karim said he visited the people living in downstream Kotri areas, including Thatta, Badin and Tando Mohd Khan talukas, and noticed extreme malnutrition in children and women. Mortality rate was high in children and women, while skin problems, infectious diseases, tuberculosis, asthma, anaemia, abdomen problem, diarrhoea, eye and other problems were also common, he added.
He said the continued unemployment and water depression in the area was making the people to behave abnormally. During his work in the affected area, Dr Karim’s team also discovered a new kind of illness and named it as Transient Hysteric Phobia, which, according to them, did not come under the heading of neurology medicine.
He attributed the growing case of illness to the malnutrition due to cyclone in 1999, tremors in lower Sindh and Thar area, non-availability of water at downstream for the last six years, which developed a sense of insecurity and fears of present and future coupled with helplessness and hopelessness.
Sikandar Barohi of SZABIST said that talking about Indus delta did not mean only the assessment of fisheries and other habitats, but it were the people in the area who should be kept as the prime subject on the agenda of policy-makers.
Mohammad Ali Shaikh of the same institute said water shortage in the Indus River could also affect Karachi, which is relying for its drinking water needs on different lakes fed by the Indus system. Karachi will be the worst sufferer as it is depending very much on the Indus to meet the consumption of water by its population and industries, he added.
A scientist at the IUCN, Tanveer Qureshi, said shortage of Indus water was not only affecting the human and wildlife, but was also harming the flora and fauna, including the mangroves in the Indus delta.
Haji Shafi Mohammad Jamote said local people were badly under threat due to shortage of water in the delta. Water should be provided to Sindh as per established accord, while people affected due to construction of dams, elimination of fisheries and animal life, should also be compensated in kind of cash and other support, he added.
