The

Manchar Lake and Climate Change 1

The Manchar Lake and Climate Change

Syeda Mahe Zehra Transboundary Water Resources Spring 2010

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Introduction:

Manchar Lake is situated west of the Indus River in Sindh, Pakistan and is Pakistans biggest shallow freshwater lake and one of Asias biggest. It is situated at a distance of 18km from Sehwan in the province of Sindh. The lake is flanked by the Kirthar hills in the west, Laki hills in the south and the River Indus in the east. It is a shallow saucer shaped basin and the depth and area of the lake are variable depending on the influx of water. Mean depth of the Lake is 2.5-3.75m and it covers an area of 233km^2. It is also a natural water storage facility and a big asset in the arid region where it is situated. The lake is fed by the Aral and Danister canals from the River Indus, hill torrents and the MNVD (Main Nara Valley Drain). Main source of freshwater are the Aral Manchar, Aral Lakhi and Danister Canals which link the lake to the River Indus and have a combined capacity of 1.54 MAF. The Manchar Lake area receives a mean annual rainfall of 4.43 inches while evaporation is 96 inches. In 1958 the lake completely dried up due to extremely dry summer conditions. In 1995 a record flow of 300,000 cusecs was recorded.

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The Manchar Lake is the main source of domestic water for the communities living around the lake. The groundwater in this area is not suitable for drinking as it is highly saline and the lake water is important to people downstream as well, because they use it for irrigation and fishery. As a result of the extensive evaporation due to high temperatures and low rain the increase in salts, heavy metals and other pollutants has led to deterioration of this eco-system. This deterioration is taking lives and 60 deaths were recorded for the year 2004. The once life giving Manchar Lake is now posing a severe risk to the livelihood, health and lives of the communities living in and around the Manchar Lake area.

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Problems:
The Manchar Lake, a large water reservoir is (directly and indirectly) responsible for the livelihoods for half a million people. The water pollution has killed the unique culture and exposed the population living in that area to poverty and health issues. The women are specially affected as they are now in a situation where they cannot contribute to the livelihood of their families as they used to while living on the lake. Their limited skills which were sufficient for their way of life in the Manchar area now prove insufficient in the places they have had to migrate to. As a result of this parents are getting their daughters married early. Malnutrition can also be observed in most people, especially women. This leads to varied diseases like Hepatitis C, skin and eye infections, TB, night blindness and infant and maternal mortality. In addition to all these problems each family has to now spend Rs60-80 ($1 = Rs. 80 approx.) a day to buy water. The degradation of the ecosystems of the Manchar Lake has been occurring for a long time but the effects have been felt recently. Due to diversion of the water from the Indus upstream and decreased storm runoff from the Kirthar Mountains there has been a diminished fresh water supply and even that has been rendered useless due to the saline drainage water from surrounding fields finding its way to the lake through the Main Nara Valley Drain. The main source of fresh water for the Manchar Lake is the Indus which is connected to the lake through three link canals. The flows in the Indus have been diverted upstream and so not enough water flows into the Manchar Lake. Data on pre-Tarbela flows 1962-74 showed that 0.14 MAF of water used to flow into the lake which has now been curtailed to 0.08MAF. The Indus is connected to the Manchar through some old inundation canals, like the Aral Manchar, Aral Laki and Danister Canal. The MNVD runs from Hamal Lake to Manchar Lake, it was constructed in 1932 to provide drainage for rice effluent and rain water and also Karachi plain flows which were ponded at

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Hamal Lake. The effluent comes from the North Dadu drainage project (Wagan, K.N.Shah, Meha and Ghar) and this is the main contributor to the salinity. There is also talk of remodeling the MNVD to enhance its capacity to accommodate effluent from the Right Bank Outfall Drain Project as well which will lead to further pollution. Presently 8000 cusecs of drainage is disposed through the MNVD during the peak Kharif planting season with a salinity of 1900 PPM while the numbers for the Rabbi planting season are 500-1000 cusecs and 2500-5000 PPM. In addition to the problems arising from the dumping of the MNVD waters into the Manchar Lake is the issue of siltation and growth of uncontrolled natural vegetation in Manchar Lake have created massive problems as it limits the water holding capacity of the lake and reduces the water supply to adjoining areas. The fishermen are also adding to the pollution problem by practicing harmful fishing practices such as using DDT, dynamite and grain as bait and motorized boats to increase their catch, not realizing that they are infact part of the reason that the fish are dying out. Once the Manchar Lake used to sustain 2600 species of plants, animals and fish, the situation is very different now. More than 70% of the fisher folk have already migrated to other places in Pakistan and even Afghanistan and Iran and the Middle East. The catch of 3000 tons in 1950 had dwindled down to less than one hundred tons. The numbers of fish species in the Manchar Lake has also gone down and 14 out of 200 species recorded in 1930 are already extinct. All popular and commercially valuable species are gone. Not only have the fisher folk been deprived of their livelihood, the people buying fish from them suffer losses in their business, and there is less safe fish for consumption by sustenance fisher folks and community members. Additionally, the Siberian migratory birds have also lost a stop on their flight due to their not being enough fish in the waters of Manchar Lake. An ecological survey of Manchar Lake was carried out during 1998-1999, water samples were analyzed: water temperature, light penetration, pH, alkalinity, conductivity, salinity, total

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dissolved solids, total hardness, phosphates, chlorides and dissolved oxygen were recorded. The water quality analysis indicated salinity (1.8-3.9 g/L), pH (7.4-8.7) and hardness (614-1000 mg/L). These parameters are towards the higher side and these factors are one of the reasons for the decline in fish production. Around 300,000 acres of land stands affected due to water logging and salinity. 1,200 tube wells in the area are no longer of any use. Traditional crops like rice, wheat and tobacco have become uncultivable or uneconomical .The lake bed was also used for agriculture. Traditionally some crops used to be cultivated on the lake floor as the water receded going from 113 feet in Sep to 106 feet in October exposing 26,000 acres of land. Another 50,000 acres were made cultivable through connecting channels. In addition the crop yields of downstream farms are also suffering as they rely on the water from the Manchar Lake to irrigate their lands. The pollution and reduced water in the Manchar lake is not only heralding the death of a great lake it is also causing deaths in surrounding areas." In mid-May 2004, Hyderabad in Pakistan's Sindh province was hit by a severe diarrhea epidemic. The pestilence, which lasted for two months, claimed 38 lives mostly children. An unpublished World Health Organization report cites contamination of Hyderabad's water's supply by untreated waters of the Manchar Lake, as one of the causes. The lake's waters reached the city via the Indus River, which was in spate. "As a result,' says the report, "its heavy salt content could not be adequately diluted.' A fact- finding report of the Pakistan's Human Rights Commission also blamed the lake's waters for the calamity" (Shahid Hussain, 2004: http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/43489) Add to this host of problems another variable, namely climate change and you see the situation get even more complicated. There is not much information available about the impact that climate change might have on the Manchar Lake in particular but we can draw some conclusions by studying the facts.

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We know that the Himalayan glaciers are receding and this will eventually lead to reduced water flows in the river Indus and its tributaries. Flows will be reduced by as much as 50%! Currently the wetlands of Pakistan dont get enough freshwater from the Indus system because there are many other upstream uses that currently have priority like agriculture. What will happen when the water is halved? Will the debate of restoring the wetlands even have any significance in the glaring reality of reduced water for drinking and growing food for an ever- growing population? Another impact of Climate Change will be change in the monsoon patterns and though there will be more rain it will also be more concentrated increasing the risks of floods. We know that part of the water coming into the Manchar Lake is from the hill torrents of the Kirthar Mountain ranges. In the event of increased rain there could be an influx of water from that quarter. The increased temperature will also increase the rate of evaporation. The Manchar Lake is one of many wetlands in Pakistan. Infact 9.7% of the country is covered in wetlands. Pakistan needs to figure out what water management practices it will adopt today to ensure that it will have water for its wetlands tomorrow.

Required Readings:
Life on the Lake by F.H. Mughal 2010 Pollution Swamping Pakistani Lake People by Zofeen Ebrahim http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=28991

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References:
Mapping and Monitoring Environmental Degradation in Manchar Lake and Environs, Zamir Ahmad Siddiqui and Syed SanaUllah Shah Studies on Water Chemistry and Fish Production of Manchar Lake, Dadu, Sindh, Pakistan, M.A. Mahar, S.I.H Jafri, S.M. Laghari and M.Y. Khuhawar, University of Sindh, Jamshoro Assesment of water quality of polluted lake using multivariate statistical techniques: A case study, T.G. Kazi, M.B. Arain, M.K. Jamali, N. Jalbani, H.I. Afridi, R.A. Sarfaraz, J.A. Baig, and Abdul Q. Shah, Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh Degradation of Manchar Lake: A Case of Human Disaster, Revised Investigative Report, Impact on Women Health and Livelihoods, Shirkat Gah Publications, Naseer Memon,Zubaida Birwani and Nizamudin Nizamani Experimenting with Lives of Poor: Right Bank Outfall Drainage Project (RBOD), Action Aid Survey Report, Mustafa Talpur, August 2004 Total Dissolved and Bioavailable elements in water and sediment samples and their accumulation in Oreochromis Mossambicus of polluted Manchar Lake, T.G. Kazi, M.B. Arain, M.K. Jamali, N. Jalbani, H.I. Afridi, R.A. and Abdul Q. Shah, Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of SindhImpact of Water Scarcity on Wetlands in Sindh, Rahat Jabeen, Freshwater Ecologist, Wetlands Conservation Officer, WWF-Pakistan

Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Rahimaisa Abdula and Anupam Joshi Climate Change, Poverty and Environmental Crisis in the disaster prone areas of Pakistan OXFAM