Rising Indus pollution

Water of the mighty Indus River, which has served as sustainer of countless civilisations in this region over the millennia, has become so polluted, thanks to the reckless dumping into it of effluents and domestic waste from major Sindh and Punjab cities, that it has become unfit for human consumption, says a Karachi datelined report.
The dumping of untreated industrial effluents has polluted the water to such an extent that many marine species have either become extinct or are on the verge of extinction. The Blind Dolphin, which tops the endangered species list, is now threatened with extinction, as dead Blind Dolphins have been found on beaches and in the water with increasing frequency. The dumping of industrial effluents into the Indus has not only contaminated the water supply, it has also reduced its water flow, which has made the situation worse.
As major parts of Sindh are dependent on the Indus for drinking water supply, the rising toxicity and pollution level in the river can eventually prove fatal for humans as well. The contamination level at Sukkur and Kotri barrages, according to laboratory tests, has crossed the 350ppm level. It is said that if the contamination contains metals, a level of 450 could prove extremely dangerous. This shows how dangerous the situation has become. If the pouring of effluents and wastewater continues unabated, the situation could become extremely serious.
The quality and quantity of drinking water supply in Pakistan has remained a low-priority area for most governments, while the policies fashioned from time to time have largely remained unimplemented, which has indirectly caused the multi-billion bottled water industry to flourish. What this poor country needs is clean and dependable tap-water supply, which used to be available in the good old days.
Low budgetary priority attached to the social sector in Pakistan, as elsewhere in the Third World, seems to be a result of the differing priorities of the public and the stakeholders. Contaminated water supply is said to be responsible for as much as 95 percent of the diseases in Pakistan, which has understandably become a burden on our debt-ridden, fragile economy in terms of the lost man-hours, the hospital occupancy charges and the expenses incurred on the purchase of medicines.
Secondly, a low nutrition level, coupled with contaminated water intake, has led to an increase in the incidence of sickness. But this is only one side of the contaminated water supply problem. The other, and more serious, is the environmental degradation it has caused in the eco-system, which will prove to be of more lasting damage. Decimation of species inhabiting the mangroves and other types of marine habitats has inflicted huge damage to the earth's delicately balanced eco-system.
It is rightly said that man is both a cause and victim of the damage he has inflicted on the eco-systems. Decimation of marine species, whether in Indus or elsewhere, is bound sooner or later to affect the entire eco-system. Implementation of the Kyoto protocol and other instruments in letter and spirit by all governments is absolutely essential to save the earth from the freak weather, which has played havoc with the economies of different countries. Pakistan needs to initiate urgent measures to counter the threat it faces from the disturbed Indus ecology before it is too late.