The disastrous redesign of Pakistan’s rivers
Summary
TLDRThe video script explores the transformation of the Indus River Basin in Pakistan, a region that has been reshaped from an arid desert into a vast agricultural area through extensive water infrastructure. The British colonial period saw the introduction of a large-scale canal system, which has continued to evolve post-independence, leading to a precarious relationship with water. Despite the benefits, the region now faces severe water scarcity and frequent devastating floods. The script discusses the social and environmental impacts of this engineering, including the loss of wetlands and the creation of an unequal water distribution system. It suggests that a more democratic and sustainable approach to water management, which includes local knowledge and less reliance on mega-engineering projects, is necessary to address the current crisis.
Takeaways
- 🌊 The Indus River Basin in Pakistan, transformed by water infrastructure, has become a crucial agricultural region but also faces significant water challenges.
- 🏙️ Population growth in Pakistan has increased fivefold in 75 years, while per capita water availability has drastically decreased, leading to water scarcity predictions by 2025.
- 🌧️ Severe flooding events, exacerbated by monsoon rains, cause destruction and loss of life, highlighting the strain on the redesigned river system.
- 🛠️ British colonial rule in the 1800s initiated the large-scale water infrastructure that aimed to maximize agricultural productivity but also disrupted the natural water cycle.
- 🌾 Pre-colonial irrigation systems were designed to follow natural drainage patterns, but the British introduced year-round irrigation, leading to ecological and social changes.
- 🏗️ The British also engaged in social engineering, favoring certain groups with better water access, which has contributed to ongoing inequality in water distribution.
- 🌎 The scale of the canal system in the Indus River Basin is unparalleled, making it the largest contiguous canal system in the world.
- 📈 The canal system has led to urban growth, a booming population, and agriculture becoming the largest economic sector in Pakistan, but it also uses 90% of the country's surface and groundwater.
- 💧 The over-engineering of the river has had catastrophic consequences, including the 2022 monsoon floods that affected one third of the country and resulted in significant loss of life.
- ⚖️ Inequality in water access persists, with landowners at the head of canals benefiting from better water access, while those downstream face scarcity.
- 🔍 Addressing the water crisis may require a shift from colonial mindsets and engineered solutions to a more democratic and inclusive approach that considers local knowledge and sustainable practices.
Q & A
What is the Indus River Basin known for in terms of water infrastructure?
-The Indus River Basin is known for its extensive water infrastructure, which includes canals, dams, and embankments. This infrastructure has transformed one of the most arid regions in the world into millions of acres of farmland.
How has the population growth in Pakistan affected water availability?
-Over the past 75 years, Pakistan's population has increased fivefold, while the water availability per capita has plummeted. This has led to a precarious relationship with water, with the region predicted to reach absolute water scarcity by 2025.
What were the water management practices like in the Indus River Basin before British colonization?
-Before British rule, the region was largely populated by agro pastoralists who raised livestock and grew crops along the river. They used inundation canals that captured flood water for irrigation, following the landscape's natural drainage patterns, and migrated depending on the river basin's fluctuations.
How did the British change the water management in the Indus River Basin?
-The British built a larger network of canals designed for year-round irrigation, extended the reach of river waters, and constructed embankments to contain floodwaters. They also introduced barrages, which are dam-like structures that control the flow of water into canals.
What was the impact of the British canal system on the local population and environment?
-The British canal system led to the destruction of wetlands, forests, and biodiversity. It also involved social engineering, moving farmers onto plots along the canals and empowering local elites to collect rents and taxes, which created a reward system and social hierarchy.
How has the canal system transformed Pakistan post-independence?
-Post-independence, the Pakistani government continued the legacy of the canal system, adding new barrages and canal links. This has led to the creation of the largest contiguous canal system in the world, fostering urban growth, a population boom, and making agriculture the country's largest economic sector.
What are the consequences of the canal system on the environment and society in Pakistan?
-The canal system has led to catastrophic consequences, including severe flooding events, water scarcity, and the destruction of water sources and farmable land. It has also created social inequality in terms of water access, with landowners at the head of canals benefiting from better water access.
What happened during the unusually heavy monsoon season in August 2022 in Pakistan?
-The heavy monsoon season in August 2022 caused one third of the country to flood, resulting in the death of over 1600 people. The water could not find a natural path back to the river due to the canal system, leading to prolonged water stagnation, disease, and displacement.
Why are the low-lying regions in Pakistan more vulnerable to flooding?
-Low-lying regions are more vulnerable to flooding because they lack the historic wetlands and floodplains that would have absorbed excess water. Additionally, the canal system built alongside the river blocks natural drainage pathways.
How does the current water management system contribute to inequality in Pakistan?
-The current system contributes to inequality by favoring those with better access to water, such as landowners at the head of canals and certain provinces like Punjab, which has control over water flow due to its upstream location.
What are some proposed solutions to the water scarcity and flooding problems in Pakistan?
-Proposed solutions include building more mega dams, preventing further development in floodplains, clearing obstructions to drainage pathways, and incorporating local community knowledge into water and flood management policies.
What is the importance of considering a more democratic approach to water management in Pakistan?
-A more democratic approach to water management involves considering the needs and knowledge of all stakeholders, including indigenous knowledge systems, and ensuring that water access and benefits are more equitably distributed across society.
Outlines
🌊 The Indus River Basin: Transformation and Water Crisis
This paragraph introduces the Indus River Basin in Pakistan, highlighting its transformation from an arid region into a large agricultural area through water infrastructure development. The script discusses the historical context, starting with British colonization and the establishment of a canal system that has led to both agricultural productivity and water scarcity issues. It also touches upon the ecological and social impacts of these changes, including the destruction of wetlands and the creation of a system that favors certain landowners. The paragraph concludes with the current challenges faced by Pakistan, such as water scarcity predicted for 2025 and the severe flooding events that have caused significant loss of life and property.
🏞️ Colonial Legacy and Modern Water Management
The second paragraph delves into the social and economic engineering carried out by the British during their rule, which involved the redistribution of land and the creation of a canal system that favored certain groups. It outlines the scale of the canal system and its impact on agriculture, population growth, and economic development in Pakistan. The paragraph also discusses the environmental consequences of this system, including the increased vulnerability to flooding and the loss of natural water regulation mechanisms. It highlights the inequality in water access and the government's continued reliance on large-scale engineering solutions, such as the construction of more dams, which perpetuates the colonial mindset of controlling nature at the expense of sustainable water management.
🌱 Towards Sustainable Water and Flood Management
The final paragraph suggests a shift in approach towards more sustainable and democratic water management practices. It emphasizes the need for acknowledging past mistakes and making amends, as well as considering indigenous knowledge systems in managing the river basin. The paragraph proposes potential solutions such as preventing further development in floodplains, clearing drainage obstructions, and involving local communities in decision-making processes. It calls for a collective and inclusive approach to address the water crisis, suggesting that a single solution may not be feasible given the scale of the problem.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Indus River Basin
💡Water scarcity
💡Flooding
💡British colonization
💡Canals
💡Embankments
💡Barrages
💡Agricultural productivity
💡Social engineering
💡Water management
💡Indigenous knowledge systems
Highlights
The Indus River Basin in Pakistan has been transformed from one of the most arid regions in the world into millions of acres of farmland through water infrastructure.
Pakistan's population has increased fivefold in the past 75 years, while per capita water availability has plummeted, with absolute water scarcity predicted by 2025.
Severe flooding events in Pakistan have become more frequent, causing significant loss of life and destruction of land.
The British colonial period marked the beginning of large-scale water infrastructure projects in the Indus River Basin, aiming to increase agricultural productivity.
Agro pastoralists previously lived in harmony with the Indus River, migrating based on its fluctuations and treating the river as a sacred entity.
Pre-colonial irrigation systems were designed to follow the natural drainage patterns of the landscape, allowing water to return to the river system.
British rulers built a network of canals and embankments to irrigate year-round, significantly altering the river's natural flow and flood patterns.
The Sukkur barrage, completed in 1932, created canals that irrigate around 8 million acres of land, exemplifying the scale of British engineering projects.
The British Crown's canal projects included social engineering, favoring certain groups with better water access to secure loyalty to the empire.
By 1947, the canal system had expanded to convert approximately 26 million acres of land into farmland, making it the largest contiguous canal system in the world.
Post-independence, Pakistan continued to expand the canal system, adding major barrages and canal links, further manipulating the water supply.
Agriculture in Pakistan now uses 90% of the country's surface and groundwater, making it the largest economic sector and employing half of the population.
The 2022 monsoon season caused devastating floods in Pakistan, highlighting the failure of the canal system to handle extreme weather events.
The canal and embankment system has led to water scarcity and the destruction of farmable land due to seawater intrusion and blocked natural drainage.
Inequality in water access persists, with landowners at the head of canals benefiting from better water access, while those at the end suffer from scarcity.
Proposed solutions to water scarcity and flooding include building more mega dams, continuing the colonial tradition of over-engineering the Indus River.
Sustainable changes to water policy, such as preventing development in floodplains and improving drainage, could help mitigate the negative impacts of the current system.
A more democratic approach to water and flood management, which includes indigenous knowledge and involves all stakeholders, is suggested as a way forward.
Transcripts
[build, rhythmic music]
This is a model of a part of the Indus River Basin
in Pakistan that we built for this story.
Obviously not exactly the scale.
Here you can see the Indus River itself...
which flows roughly from north to south...
some farmland and a lot of water infrastructure.
Like canals, dams, and embankments.
It's a system that's transformed
one of the most arid regions in the world...
into millions of acres of farmland.
And it also helped create Pakistan's
precarious relationship with water.
In the past 75 years
Pakistan's population has increased five fold
while the water availability per capita is plummeting.
By 2025, the region is predicted
to reach absolute water scarcity.
But Pakistan also suffers
from increasingly severe flooding events...
each one destroying land and claiming hundreds of lives.
"There have been more deaths in Pakistan's flooding..."
-"... millions of gallons of water..." -"... caused by monsoon rains..."
These twin water crises expose
what happens when you take a river system...
and redesign it way past its limits.
[swelling, urgent string music]
The modern water infrastructure
that transformed the Indus River Basin...
started with British colonization in the 1800s.
But we'll get back to that.
Before British rule
this region was largely populated by agro pastoralists.
They'd spent centuries raising livestock and growing crops.
Like sorghum, vegetables, and rice along the river.
And they migrated
depending on the Indus River basin fluctuations.
People lived in an enchanted landscape...
where rivers were alive.
That's Daanish Mustafa
a professor in critical geography at King's College, London.
They were sacred waters, there is a living thing
with which you interacted with all the time.
This region is arid
and the Indus River and its tributaries
are its singular source of surface water
fed by snow and glacial melt
starting in the spring from the mountains in the northeast
and heavy seasonal monsoons in the summer.
As it does today, this means the flow of the river
fluctuates a lot throughout the year.
Roughly 84% of its flow occurs from around April to October.
While the other half of the year the river flow diminishes.
And if the flooding happened, the flooding would
typically water would spread out onto the floodplain.
And because it could spread out all over
the flood peaks would not be that high.
Pre-Colonial empires built their own irrigation system.
Inundation canals
that captured flood water and allowed irrigation
several miles from the river's banks.
Like the river, they flowed seasonally
filling up during peak water flow
but were dry in the winter.
And crucially, they followed the landscape's natural drainage patterns.
So water still found its way back to the Indus system and the sea.
In the 1800s, things began to change.
[rhythmic, percussive music]
After a series of wars
the British took control of the Indus Basin region
and it became part of their Indian empire.
The new British rulers wanted to make this region
as agriculturally productive as possible.
They began building a much larger network of canals
designed not just to capture flood season flow
but to irrigate year round
and to extend the river waters reach.
This water would irrigate cash crops like wheat and cotton
up to a hundred miles from a river source.
The British built embankments
to keep floodwater from flowing past the river's banks.
And key to this canal systems design were barrages:
Dam like infrastructure
that raised the river's upstream water level
so that water can be funneled into canals
with gates that open and close
depending on water supply and demand.
The completion of the Lloyd barrage
in 1932 is emblematic of this change.
It's now called the Sukkur barrage
and sits on the Indus River in the province of Sindh.
This project alone created canals
that irrigate around 8 million acres of land.
"Irrigation projects turn millions of acres
of once barren land into fertile soil."
It's a very Western mindset.
We must control nature.
That's Ayesha Siddiqi, an assistant professor
of human geography at the University of Cambridge.
It's a modernist way of looking at the river
which was involved in the early 20th century.
The British Crown moved farmers
onto plots of farmland along the canals
and destroyed the wetlands, forests, and biodiversity that was there before.
This wasn't just a project in physical engineering.
It was social engineering too.
At the end of the canal with the least water access...
the British granted land to the agropastoralists.
At the heads of canals with the best water access
they awarded property to people who favored the British crown
often former military men.
They then empowered these local elites
to collect rents and taxes.
So it became sort of a reward system
to cultivate the native elites
and keep them beholden to the empire.
There's nothing unique about engineering rivers for irrigation.
Countries everywhere do that.
But the scale of this region's canals sets it apart.
"When the barrage was fully developed
the crop output on the land it controls
will be 5 times as great as it is now."
By 1947, at the end of British rule
the canal system had grown into a large network
that turned roughly 26 million acres of land in the basin
into farmland.
The Indus River and its tributaries were diverted
into a vast web of canals.
After Pakistan won independence
the government continued this legacy
adding at least 18 new major barrages
and canal links between 1960 and 1990.
The system today includes over 50 canals over 80 dams, 19 barrages
and 2 major drainage projects for agricultural waste.
Therefore, the canal system is considered
the largest contiguous canal system anywhere in the world.
This degree of manipulation has transformed Pakistan.
Cities appeared in the desert.
The population boomed to over 200 million.
And agriculture is the country's largest economic sector
employing roughly half of the country.
And it uses 90% of its surface and groundwater.
This complete redesign of the country's water
has some major consequences.
I would say catastrophic consequences
which we are seeing 150 years since its inception.
[urgent, driving string music]
In August of 2022
an unusually heavy monsoon season
flooded one third of the country
killing more than 1600 people.
The low lying province of Sindh
and neighboring Balochistan were inundated.
When the water across this part of Pakistan
wanted to drain back into the Indus...
It couldn't find a natural path back to the river.
It was blocked by the system of canals, embankments
and wastewater drains built parallel to the river.
Water lingered for several weeks
causing disease and displacement.
Generally, the regions most vulnerable to this type of flooding
are the low lying ones without the historic wetlands and floodplains
that would have absorbed the water.
The embankments along the river were built to protect regions
from riverine flooding.
But the government and powerful landowners
are known to breach these embankments on purpose.
So that some land can be spared from flooding...
while other land gets inundated.
And the wide network of barrages and canals
capture and disperse the river water out in a way
that diminishes the water that reaches the Indus delta.
That means sea water can intrude
back into the riverbed and groundwater...
destroying water sources and millions of acres
of farmable land.
So in the lower Indus Delta in particular
you have vast land masses which are now no longer fit
for agriculture and people who have been practicing particular
kinds of agriculture are completely destitute.
Inequality is also built into the system
in terms of water access.
The richer you are better positioned
you are in terms of access to water.
That means, just like during British colonial rule
landowners at the head of canals today
still benefit from this privilege of better water access
while the people at the end of the canals
suffer from the most water scarcity.
A similar dynamic plays out among provinces.
Punjab is an upstream province, meaning
they get access to the river water before Sindh in the south
and can use the control of the barrages to direct
how much water flows downstream in the Punjab
Pakistani officials have proposed building more mega dams
along their rivers as a solution to water scarcity and flooding
showing they intend to continue the same colonial tradition
of over engineering the Indus River.
It's a question of a very colonial mindset
that has continued in post-colonial Pakistan.
And that the way to manage the river basin
is only through engineered solutions
and not taking account for indigenous knowledge systems.
With a problem this massive, a single overarching
solution might be impossible.
But slow and sustained changes to water policy
like preventing more development in floodplains
clearing out obstructions to drainage pathways
and listening to local communities...
could help reduce the extremely negative impacts
the system has created.
And thinking differently
basically means to think about what have we done wrong?
You need to make amends for those mistakes.
A more democratic mode of going forward
with water management, with flood management.
Taking everyone along with you...
is the only recipe that I can think of.
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