RIVER INDUS

 

This scientific article explores the history and consequences of the water infrastructure system in the Indus River Basin in Pakistan. The article traces the transformation of the region from an arid landscape populated by agro-pastoralists who depended on the river's fluctuations to a highly irrigated farmland under British colonization. The construction of a network of canals, dams, and embankments has led to millions of acres of farmland, but also severe flooding and a precarious relationship with water. The article argues that this modern water infrastructure, designed to control and extend the river's reach, has caused ecological and social disruption, destroying wetlands, forests, and biodiversity, and displacing communities. The article calls for a reconsideration of the Western mindset that seeks to control nature and advocates for a more holistic approach to river systems that takes into account the needs and knowledge of local communities and respects the river as a living entity. The article concludes by highlighting the urgent need for solutions to the twin water crises of absolute water scarcity and severe flooding facing the Indus River Basin.

During British rule in Pakistan, property was awarded to those who favored the British crown, often former military men. The local elites were empowered to collect rents and taxes, creating a reward system to cultivate loyalty to the empire. The development of the canal system was a result of British engineering to enhance irrigation, which grew into a vast network of canals that turned roughly 26 million acres of land in the basin into farmland. After Pakistan won independence, the government continued this legacy, adding at least 18 new major barrages and canal links between 1960 and 1990. However, this complete redesign of the country's water system has had catastrophic consequences, as seen in the 2022 floods, which killed over 1600 people. The canal system has caused water scarcity, destroyed millions of acres of farmable land, and created inequalities in water access, benefiting the rich landowners at the expense of the poor. Pakistani officials have proposed building more mega-dams along their rivers as a solution to water scarcity and flooding, continuing the same colonial tradition of over-engineering the Indus River. To reduce the negative impacts of the canal system, slow and sustained changes to water policy, such as preventing more development in floodplains and listening to local communities, are necessary. A more democratic mode of water management, taking everyone along, is the only recipe for sustainable solutions.