Dying Rivers: Global Thirst

Imagine a river that runs from the world's highest mountains to the sea in an fairly straight line. Let us call it the Indus. This river, one of the most vital and vibrant in the world flowed through India (and later Pakistan) to the coastal areas near Karachi and created a huge delta with the deposits of sand, silt and rich earth. Here, in ancient times, various dwellers reaped its bounty, red rice grew in profusion, tamarisk forests were harvested by the Jat people who made charcoal, but upon the slow decline of the river they turned to catching shrimp and fish, plying the shallow and earth colored waters with their small shallow fishing dhows, crude crafts made of logs or stitched together, made of teak planks; a verdant area with animals of every kind which lived in, on, under and above the Indus waters that flowed to the Arabian Sea.

It was my unusual job as consultant with the On Farm Water Management Project of Pakistan's Department of Agriculture, during 1984-1986 that gave me the opportunity to travel the river systems of Pakistan, and the Indus in particular. The vast irrigation system of Pakistan, one of the largest in the world with hundreds of thousands of miles of canals and irrigation ditches that were built, attached to the rivers in that part of the Punjab which sustained the country. My work took me from the Tarbela Reservoir all the way to the Kalri Lake just above the mouth of the Indus; the Ravi River to see the irrigation systems fed by the Upper Bari Doab, to the Sutlej to meet with the farmers' water user associations of the Sirhind, to the Ravi and the Sidhnai, the Chenab and its Upper Chenab Canal, the Ravi and the Lower Bari Doab, Swat and its Upper Swat Canal and the Indus at Sukkur with its vast barrage canal system, my favorite place, the locus of my novel, One Way to Pakistan; the Thal Canal, the Kotri Barrage project, and on the Indus the Taunsa Barrage and the Guddu Barrage Project of the lower Indus. These canals were the life-blood support system to farmers; but these canals became the destruction of the lower Indus River. The earliest of the canals, the Upper Bari Doab was built in 1859, and one of the most recent, the Guddy Barrage Project on the Indus, was constructed in 1962.

Arif Hasan, in 1992, published a fine review in "India Environmental Portal: Knowledge for Change" entitled, Death of the Indus delta. He says, "Starved of fresh water and no longer able to withstand the encroaching Arabian Sea, the Indus is dying a slow death. The channels of this mighty and historic river are running dry, while salt water is destroying the lush tamarisk forests which once lined the river, the estuarine timmar, or mangrove swamps, and the red rice paddies."

'Where has all the water gone, one time passing?' Where have so many people come from?

The Indus is the lifeblood of the agricultural system in Pakistan. Its barrages and canals have bled the river dry, but have nourished a new civilization that is expanding at an ever increasing rate. (Pakistan has one of the highest birth rates in the world) The human condition, overpopulation and need for ever- increasing resources are taxing the systems of support severely, but though the Indus is dying as a river that flows to the sea its annual renewal system flows instead to the 'veins' of the people through irrigated crops of sugar cane, millet, rice and mustard seed. The evolution of mankind is such that in its inexorable growth, it taxes natural systems that once seemed inexhaustible.

So long ago, so far away! So here I sit in San Diego and read in the San Diego Union Tribune that we must all conserve water, that we are facing a crisis unless we can change our civilization with its myriad needs for water. The San Diego River is a mere trickle through a swamp and our ground water supply is getting brackish. But, thank Allah or other powers that be; we have a distant river that is our constant transfusion by canals that bring the water, but the signs of extreme water scarcity already exist. I sit here and read about the water needs of Mumbai, which are short supply; some 100 million liters short daily and I feel better, misery loves company. They even turn off the water in Mumbai for hours on end. Oh dear! Quick, build a dam, divert water. At least San Diego will never have water rationing. I am crossing my fingers.

The Colorado River is the life-blood of western United States. But water shortage in California where I live in San Diego, is at a critical stage. State and municipal regulations now limit the water that can be applied to our parks, our lush green lawns and huge golf courses, to the hundreds of thousands of swimming pools which need filling, so that people can live the good life in this desert area. But the water in the river must first run the gauntlet of Las Vegas, literally floating that city's needs so it can maintain the vitally important gambling and showbiz industry which enervates that state. The mighty Colorado River struggles to flow to the ocean because it is being bled dry by the voracious needs of the seven states through which it flows toward Mexico and Tijuana to the south near to where I live. At its very end live Indians, (the non-Asian type) the Cucapa fishermen, who have traditionally fished corvine in the rich waters near the coast, but who now face restrictions and regulations that threaten their livelihood. These few, a handful, a couple of hundred people, are clinging to an area that is fresh water starved. Once, perhaps a hundred years ago, large "... thirty ton steamboats made their way up the mouth of the Colorado. Now, at low tide, there is no longer enough water flowing downriver to float the Cucapa's 20-foot-long pangas and their cargo. ...they ended the day mired in the nearly dry riverbed, a mile short of ... destination." (In: Colorado River Delta, waters--and prospects - are drying up), by Frank Clifford, May 25, 2008, Special to the Times) The waters now reaching the Mexican border have traversed seven of the most arid of these United States which rely on it, in large part, water from the Colorado River. International treaties allow Mexico ten percent of its flow, which seems to diminish at the border.

Water, the lifeblood of nations is being squandered. In California, citizens go on with their lives and life styles and waste precious water on precious projects which support industry, their recreational and domestic needs. Even water to the bread basket of the nation, the vast Imperial Valley area where vegetables and fruits are grown for the nation, water is being rationed so that ten million toilets can be flushed daily, more lawns watered, a million cars cleaned in car washes. Water use is part of the social life and is now a political issue. We are massive consumers of earth's resources and waste water outrageously. But it takes an outrageous amount of water to keep an economy vibrant, to restart the economic engine so that we move out of a recession.

Oh yes, the Mumbai water problem. But that is far away from me now. I am more preoccupied about the water for our daily use, that now we can only water our lawns on certain days for a short period of time and that the water costs to consumers have risen dramatically. Of course I do my share of being more 'green' and now catch the water when I shower in a large bucket so it can be reused, you know where. We try to remember to flush only when absolutely necessary.

On Farm Water Management is an on-going issue in Pakistan where salt residues are building up in the soils because of inadequate drainage and over watering. Water management globally may become a bigger issue than oil-use management. Dying rivers wherever they are located indicate something as ominous as global warming; global drying, global overpopulation. (We, the consumers of more than two thirds of the world's natural resources to keep this American civilization going avoid talking about the over population issue which seems all but impossible to control, particularly in those developing countries) Global thirst, may yet outdo the global need for oil. Ask any who live in the Sindh, the Sahara or southern California. A small, half pint bottle of drinking water only costs me $1.50. Let me see what is the exchange rate for that in Pakistan? PR 120 = $1.45, which is about their average daily wage. So what would a 44 gallon barrel of drinking water cost me at that rate? Do you remember the time when it was predicted that drinking water would be more costly than crude oil? I need a drink.