KARACHI: “Water is life. Humans, animals and plants cannot function without water. But we don’t treat our water sources very well. We take from them and we dump all our waste in them as well,” said Mohammad Ali Shah, chairman of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF).

“The total volume of water on Earth is about 1,400 million cubic kilometres of which only 2.5 per cent or about 35 million cubic km, is fresh water,” said Mr Shah during his eye-opening talk on ‘Equitable distribution of Indus River Water: are dams necessary?’ at Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences here on Saturday.

He said that most fresh water occurred in the form of permanent ice or snow locked up in Antarctica and Greenland or in deep ground water aquifers.

So the principal sources of water for human use are lakes, rivers, soil moisture and relatively shallow groundwater basins. The usable portion of the sources is only about 200,000 cubic km of water, which is even less than 1pc of all fresh water. Fresh water is renewable only through snow and rainfall at the rate of about 40 to 50,000 cubic km per year.

Mr Shah also pointed out that of the thousands of big as well as small rivers in the world there were only 292 rivers that were bigger than 1,000 cubic km. “Of these 292, there are only 21 rivers left which are allowed to reach oceans. The rest have been made captive by building dams on them,” he said.

Explaining further he said that just like living beings, rivers, too, had an anatomy. “Like us it is a living entity and has organs. Up and down, right and left tributaries, headwaters, channels, river banks, floodplains, meanders, mouth or delta, wetlands and flow are the anatomy of a river,” he said. “So if you mess with any of the river’s organs like for instance you close its mouth or delta, you have a dying river,” he said.

“Rivers are what arteries are for humans and other animals. The land depends on rivers. When imprisoned behind dams there will be no downstream free flow of river water or meanders on the land, which keep flowing at a normal speed and prevent excess flooding while the earth and plantation on its sides act like sponges taking in the nutrients and silt being carried with the water,” he said.

“Since water is a living entity, we see it as a commodity. But it is not a commodity to be bought, sold and traded for profit and should not be treated as such,” he said, coming to the politics of water.

“Physics teaches us that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The diverting of waters from its natural route will also have repercussions. Controlling rivers through dams there will be a reduction in the river water level and the temperature of the earth will also be altered not to mention the holding back of silt, debris and nutrients, a decrease in oxygen levels in the reservoir waters and the dam turbines hurting the fish and the ecosystem,” he said.

“The number of large dams worldwide has climbed from just over 5,000 in 1950 to 57,000 today,” informed Mr Shah. “The many rivers including the Indus river are so dammed, diverted or over-tapped that little or no fresh water reaches its final destination,” he said.

“A recent study conducted by the PFF points out that the ecological degradation process of the Indus delta began with the development of mega irrigation infrastructures on the Indus during the pre-Partition era,” he said.

“This process began in the 1890s, when the British developed the Punjab irrigation system, followed by the development of the Sukkur Barrage in 1955,” he added.

“Mega water projects, unsustainable water practices and utilisation and injudicious polices of institutions responsible for water management while not considering the environment has negatively impacted on the Indus delta and the riverine people.

“The deltaic ecosystem and its people have been brought to the verge of complete destruction as the water, which once delivered silt to the estuarine fishery nurseries, fed lakes and supported agriculture in the region have been greatly diminished or ended completely,” he pointed out.

“As the fresh flow of water flows in the delta has decreased, the channels, creeks and lakes have been inundated by seawater and groundwater aquifers have turned saline. The consequences of this on the local communities are devastating.

“Wells and other potable water sources have become undrinkable, forcing communities to purchase their drinking water from outside. Farms have been abandoned as the crops dried up and salt poisoned the soil. The once small-scale though thriving coastal fisheries have all but collapsed as the mangrove stands are disappearing,” he said.

“Yes, countries and provinces located upstream or downstream of rivers may be at an advantage or disadvantage but global freshwater is a shared legacy, a public trust, and therefore, a collective responsibility,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2018