Destruction of a Lake

How did that happen? The lake’s misfortunes can be traced back to 1982, when Pakistan authorities remodeled the Main Nara Valley Drain: built in 1932 by British colonialists to control floods in the Hammal Lake in southern Sindh and to protect the low-lying areas of the province. The water body was turned into a drain to carry industrial runoff and agricultural effluents into the Arabian Sea. But then, how did that affect Manchar?

The water body was turned into a drain to carry industrial runoff and agricultural effluents into the Arabian Sea. But then, how did that affect Manchar?

The remodeled drain -- now called the Right Bank Outfall Drain -- did not work and was redirected to Manchar. The authorities assumed that freshwater from the Indus and from the torrents that gush down the Kirthar hills during the rainy season -- the two sources of the lake -- would dilute the effluents. That was a big mistake.

Manchar’s two sources do not provide enough water to clean effluents. Flows from the Indus are drying up because of barrages and dams in its upstream. Moreover, the thinning down of Himalayan glaciers means that rainfall in Sindh is extremely erratic; so the Manchar does not receive much water from the torrents. This has meant that Manchar can provide scarce support to communities who have lived by it for centuries -- perhaps even ages. Amongst them are fisherfolk called the Mohanas. Architect and town planner Arif Hasan -- who also writes on environmental issues -- says, “Folklore has it that the Mohanas are descendants of people of the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Some suggest that the word Mohenjo-Daro is a corruption of Mohana-jo-daro -- the tomb of Mohanas.” They are a fast dwindling community today. According to an analyst at Pakistan Fisher folk Forum, a non-governmental organization: “Once there were 60,000 Mohanas at the lake. Their population dropped to 25,000 and today it is even less due to increasing effluents in the lake.”