THE Manchar Lake is being destroyed by dumping waste water into it. There is an urgent need to treat this water because of the badly-planned World Bank project.

The lake is a source of drinking water for people living near the lake. People downstream from Dadu, including Sehwan, Hyderabad and Karachi, are being affected. The level of pollution is so alarming that many people have died due to polluted water.

Millions of tons of fishes are found and caught by local fishermen, and supplied to fish markets all over the country and exported as a source of affordable high protein food.

The Manchar Lake is a reservoir to store hundreds of millions of cubic feet of water.

However, over the years due to silting its capacity has been greatly reduced but, with a little cost and proper continuous dredging, this problem can also be solved.

All the silt taken out of the lake can be used to raise the walls by 20 feet to ensure more and cleaner water-storage capacity.

The Manchar lake  is a source of accumulating rainwater from the vast Kirthar mountain range. After rains, the Manchar Lake stores the rainwater, while it can also accommodate floodwater.

However, the flood diversion is possible after lake dredging is done by 20 feet and lake walls are raised.

Pakistan cannot allow hundreds of millions of cubic feet of water to go to waste. So, steps to accumulate water must be taken, especially in view of water scarcity.

I hope that a scheme to treat wastewater being dumped in the Manchar Lake will be prepared as soon as possbile in order to reduce silt, while a wall around the lake above floodwater levels is built.

Z.H. EFFENDI Karachi