"Bashir Ahmed manoeuvres his frail craft with agility. His slender boat is more than just a means of transport. It is the legacy of a people who live to the rhythm of water: the Mohana. They have lived for generations on the waters of Lake Manchar in Sindh province, a vast freshwater mirror covering nearly 250 sq km. The lake, once the largest in Pakistan, was long an oasis of life. Now, it is dying."
"That poison has flowed through a specific channel: the right bank outfall drain, or RBOD. Built in the 1990s, the canal was meant to make the salty soils of western Sindh fit for cultivation. In reality, it rerouted agricultural wastewater laden with fertilisers and pesticides, along with industrial effluent and sewage from several cities, directly into Lake Manchar. In just a few decades, the lake's salinity has soared, oxygen has dropped, algae have proliferated, and the lake's fragile ecosystem has collapsed."
Lake Manchar in Sindh province, once a nearly 250 sq km freshwater lake teeming with life, is experiencing ecological collapse. The right bank outfall drain (RBOD), built in the 1990s, rerouted agricultural wastewater, fertilisers, pesticides, industrial effluent, and city sewage directly into the lake. Salinity has risen, dissolved oxygen has fallen, algal blooms have increased, and aquatic biodiversity has crashed. Reduced rainfall and two upstream Indus dams have sharply cut freshwater inflows, accelerating degradation. Traditional Mohana livelihoods tied to fishing and boat-homes have been devastated, forcing communities to abandon or radically alter their way of life.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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