WHEN his wife Sati died, Lord Shiva wept inconsolably. His tears created two pools, both sacred to the followers of the Vedas — one near Ajmer, the other (Kataksh or Ketas) in the heart of the Salt Range in Chakwal district. Over the centuries, a temple complex grew around Ketas to rank among the holiest sites in Hinduism.

Having fallen into disuse after the upheaval of Independence, it has been revived in recent years. The inflow of pilgrims remained indifferent, largely because of the absence of facilities. By 2008, it fell significantly.

The reason, some felt, was the marked decline in the level of the sacred pond. In 2010, the pond, which was once filled with emerald green water and measured some 60 by 30 metres, had shrunk to the size of a small rubbish-filled puddle.

It was said that the water had been ‘sucked up’ by the three cement factories established just kilometres from this ancient holy site. However, in 2012, two district officers from Chakwal had the pond dredged and restored to its pristine state. Since November 2012, Ketas has seen a periodic parade of pilgrims.

Local farmers despair, however. Cement production being a water-intensive industry, they are aware of the water level falling in their tube wells. Ejaz Malik, a farmer and businessman, says that local skilled and semi-skilled men have found jobs all right. But he points out that since the establishment of the industry the sub-soil water level has fallen drastically. According to him, from a 10-metre depth in its pre-cement industry days, his well has fallen to a depth of more than 30 metres in less than a decade.

He says that in a radius of 10 kilometres around the three factories (clumped together within 4km of each other), earthen pitchers become thickly coated with a cement-like fallout from the pollution emitted by the factories. In order to retain the terracotta surface and its cooling properties, pitchers have to be scrubbed daily.

The powdery substance also coats vegetation. According to Malik, pollution has markedly reduced the wheat yield. Although no studies have been conducted, he fears it may have fallen by about 25 per cent. He also points out that fodder being similarly affected has resulted in illness-prone livestock and a noticeable decline in milk yield.

It is, however, the falling water table that worries Malik and other farmers most of all. With no canal irrigation, their agriculture and livestock depend on seasonal rains to replenish storage ponds and for crop irrigation. While most small ponds have dried up, even those who have their own tube wells now feel the pinch as their old bores fail and they are forced to re-bore deeper wells.

This is clearly no alarmist chatter. On his 1519 expedition Babar noticed Kallar Kahar as being ‘six miles round’. By the mid-1970s (when this writer saw it for the first time) the lake had shrunk by about a third. That was largely due to the planting of dozens of water-guzzling eucalyptus trees around its periphery. Today, the lake is a mere shadow of its 16th-century glory.

The Salt Range, arguably Punjab’s most beautiful resort, is not losing only its water. Vast limestone hills have already vanished, gone into the mills to become cement. More are under threat that will drastically alter the topography of this area.

Alarmed by the environmental degradation and falling water reserves, farmers and livestock owners want the cement industry shut down. Demonstrations and road blocks occur periodically with locals demanding that the industry be shifted; the most recent of these took place last November. However, other than the local press, the issue is not highlighted in the mainstream media and goes unnoticed. The Salt Range has a fragile ecosystem where a water-intensive industry should never have been permitted. It is well-known that the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessments are spurious, crafted by an unholy cabal of industrialists and self-serving ‘environmental experts’ to outwit governmental agencies and what should never be is legalised. In the case of the picture-postcard Salt Range hills, their water resources be damned. In a few years, Shiva’s tears that have kept the pond of Ketas brimming will have dried forever.

The writer is author of several books