Irrigation Department, which supposed to utilise all resources to clean the Manchar Lake to enhance its water storage capacity, has forcibly decided to leave the Asia's largest water reservoirs unclean because of immense pressure imposed by local influential kingpins, it is emerged.
Sources in Sindh Irrigation Department told Business Recorder that the provincial government, which was facing immense shortage of irrigation water, has decided to clean-up Manchar Lake during repairing work as it was burst out after receiving floodwater beyond the storage capacity. As this information was made public, the beneficiaries started approaching high-ups and stopped the project, they said.
Due to pressure, the Sindh government has decided to repair and plug the breaches and made the lake available to the local industrialists to drain out industrial wastes as was practiced in past, they said, adding provincial government would start the repair work of Manchar Lake from the next week and would be completed soon.
They said the department has sent heavy machinery for stone pitching of its weakened embankment and plugging the breaches. The irrigation department has also asked the people, who had encroached houses inside the boundary walls, not to encroach inside the land and shift to other near by areas," they maintained.
Spreading over 100 square miles, Manchar Lake is situated some 10 kilometers away from Sehwan Sharif at border of District Dadu and District Jamshoro. Lake has designed capacity of 0.75 million acres feet and received water from Khirthar Range hill torrents, the River Indus and effluent drainage from MNV Drain.
They said Manchar Lake was one Asia's largest freshwater that must be restored in its original form to supply water for both drinking and agriculture purposes. It was considered important to modify earlier approach of diverting effluent water to sea instead of utilise the same for drinking and agriculture purpose through treatment.
They said the provincial government was considering on three possible solutions of the contaminated water through treatment, executing RBOD-II project for the separate way to wastes and supplying freshwater from River Indus. Contaminated water coming from Main Nara Valley Drain (MNVD) could be treated before it enters the lake by installing treatment plants at different points, they said.
Regarding another proposed solution of RBOD-II, the joint report pointed out that RBOD-II was designed as a carrier drain to carry all effluent from RBOD-I and III down to sea instead of discharging contaminated water into the lake, they added.
However, since water treatment was option and a policy matter, and since RBOD-II drain has sustained "major damages" on account of recent deadly floodwaters, it was decided to re-evaluate the project and take a final decision in the light of the development of the first option of treatment and reuse of water, they said.
They said another option of supplying freshwater from Indus River is concerned, they said that rehabilitation of Aral head and tail channels including regulations to be undertaken urgently for providing supplies from the Indus during high floods.
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