The Indus River in Sindh: A Dying Prospect

A 2005 Summary on the Effects of Dams and Canals

Sindh and the Mighty Indus.

Sindh is a province in the southeastern portion of Pakistan. The Sindhis of Sindh account for approximately 25% of the Pakistani population, at close to 40 million people.  The Indus River, one of the largest in the world, flows through the heart of Sindh, and the livelihood of its citizens depends on it for drinking water, irrigation, and employment. “About 100,000 people are directly dependent upon mangroves in the (Indus) delta. The number of people, including fishermen, indirectly dependent on the mangroves may run in the millions.”[i]

Sindh and Lower Riparian Rights.

The 1945 Sindh-Punjab Agreement “defined the right of people in Sindh with priority, and recognized Sindh's supremacy over the Indus River” through the concept of “lower riparian rights”.  Constructions further north would first need the formal consent and approval of Sindh.[ii]  In 1991, a new Water Accord recalculated the amount of river flows allowed per province, allocating additional MAFs to Punjab Province.  However, even this agreement has been violated, with recalculations reducing water flows to Sindh to the detriment of the lower riparian provinces.[iii]

A River Threatened.

“There are now 19 barrages and 43 canal systems with 48 off-takes on the Indus River System in Pakistan, creating the world's largest contiguous man-made system of 61,000 km of canals and 105,000 water courses, irrigating 35 million acres of land.[iv]

The pitfalls of large dams are notorious, and donor agencies like the World Bank have become more wary, at least requiring detailed environmental and social assessments.  “The largest single project on the Indus is the Tarbela Dam ... As a report in 2000 by the World Commission on Dams put it, in damning understatement, ‘the ecological impacts of the dam were not considered at the inception stage as the international agencies involved in water resources development had not realized this need at that time’."[v] 

The Indus River Dolphin, or Bulan, found only in Sindh, is on the verge of extinction.

“Once more than 850,000 acres, the area of mangrove swamps in the Indus delta has shrunk to less than 500,000. Trees are stunted in many of the remaining forests, and the number of species has dropped to three from eight.”[vi]

“Because of the non-release of river water downstream Kotri, some 2.2 million acres of fertile land had so far been devoured by sea in the Thatta coastal belt alone, and the Indo Nali, Tariro Shakh, Khirani tributary, Sher Khan minor and other channels of sweet water had completely dried up.”[vii]

“Along the coast, studies show at least 1.2 million acres of farmland have been covered by sea water. Millions more acres inland have been impaired or destroyed by salt deposits.”[viii]

(Continued on reverse)

Social and Economic Impacts of the Water Crisis.

Agriculture in Sindh, once a boon to the province’s economy, is now showing signs of decay due to the water crisis. “In 1999-2000, Sindh received 17 percent less than what it should have based on the Water Accord … The result was not only a fall in production of major agricultural crops; there has also been seawater intrusion, destroying 1.2 million acres of fertile land in the Indus delta. This has forced thriving farming communities to migrate, turning their homes into ghost villages.[ix]  For example, “In the western belt of Dadu in 2002, the lack of water for irrigation led 24,000 families to abandon their homes.[x]

“Salt-water intrusion … has destroyed water supplies in Sindh, compelling people to drink brackish water and exposing them to various diseases.”[xi]

Unemployment in Sindh has risen from 25 percent in the eighties to 33 percent in the nineties.[xii]  Many have lost jobs directly as a result of the water crisis, fishing and farming opportunities literally dry up.  The social impact of the water crisis – unemployment, social migration, etc. – is clear.  In 2002, “2,386 people committed suicide while 468 people failed in their bid to commit suicide. Sindh led the other provinces in this regard … 1,391

Searching for water in the riverbed of the once-mighty Indus (Photo courtesy of BBC)

 cases of suicide were reported in Sindh, 804 in Punjab, 108 in NWFP and 83 in Balochistan.”[xiii] 

An Asian Development Bank report “mentions poverty at 54 percent in Balochistan, 53 percent in Sindh, 29 percent in Punjab and 24 per cent in NWFP.”[xiv]  Despite Sindh being one of the poorest provinces of Pakistan, the government refuses to allow an adequate flow of water downstream to Sindhi farms and fisheries.

Desert of the Future: The Kalabagh Dam and Thal Canal.

All of Pakistan’s provinces – save one – unanimously rejected the Thal Canal project, and Sindh’s approval is formally required by law.  However, the government continues to build the canal in direct violation of the law.  The Thal Canal is designed to divert 2.5 million acre-feet of water from the Indus River to irrigate 1.53 million acres of land in Punjab.  The diversion will only worsen Sindh’s water crisis.

The current flow of the Indus is 123.59 MAF – approximately 15.59 MAF less than what is required to meet the bare minimum needs of the four provinces of the Indus Delta region.  Building the Kalabagh Dam with a capacity of 10 MAF would make the situation that much worse.[xv]

Save the Indus River!  Save Sindh!

For more information, please see www.worldsindhi.org or call 202-637-3245.