Women walk long distances to fetch water One of the most frequents sights — as one drives around Thar — are groups of children and women, clad in vibrant and colourful dresses, carrying pitchers on their heads and in their arms. Spotting such a group, our photographer draws closer to them and as he does so, a teenage girl tries to hide behind the bushes and the older ones draw the veil on their faces. Conversation with them is difficult as they hardly understand or speak Urdu.
Their woes, however, are known to all. They’re Thari women who leave their homes at the crack of dawn to fetch water, sometimes from wells miles away. Only a few villages are lucky to have sweet water — otherwise mostly the water is brackish and unfit for human consumption.
Even where the water is sweet, it is a tedious task to draw it from the well as the water level is quite low. And in the absence of rain — which feeds the wells dug at a depth of 100-200 feet — the water level has dropped further. Either the women draw the water manually or they take the help of camels and donkeys for this purpose — in either case they spend an astounding four to six hours every day to fetch four to five pots that they’ll need.
Rains have always been important for Thar’s water supply, but for the past 30 years — due to climate change — the pattern of rainfall is changing and becoming more erratic, Bharumal Amerani, an environmentalist working in Thar explains. “Either the rainfall isn’t sufficient or the monsoons start late. For the past four years the drought is persistent. Previously the drought would take place after two to three years and even then it wasn’t that it wouldn’t rain at all — it would rain but lesser than needed,” he says.
Amerani points out that the best pattern of rain for water collection and agriculture in Thar is when it rains between July and September. “If there is no rain till August 14, it is considered drought. If in a month it rains about 500mm and doesn’t rain again, it’s not sufficient; the normal pattern is that it rains 300-500mm between July and September with intervals,” Amerani said.
Last year even when it did rain — two months after the monsoon ended — no grass grew. The villagers had prepared the ground in anticipation of rain and had planted the seeds; but according to the locals, the downpour was so heavy that it washed away the grass and crop seeds.
But even when Tharis are able to find water, it’s often not of very good quality. The region’s groundwater is saline to brackish and has a high concentration of various salts and minerals, which are dangerous to human health. According to the US Geological Survey, many experts consider water to be brackish if the concentration of salt is between 1,000-10,000 mg/L; at the extreme end of this would be seawater, which is anything above 35,000 mg/L.
In most parts of Thar, the total soluble salts of ground water is far above the 1,000 ppm (one milligram of salt per litre of water) recommended by WHO; in some places it is around 3,000ppm.
For instance, a 2010 joint study by Dow University of Health Sciences, the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and a local NGO, Association for Water, Applied Education & Renewable Energy (Aware) found that over 80pc of groundwater in the district is unfit for human consumption. Another study conducted by Aware, titled Underground Water Quality of Thar: A Detailed Analysis 2003-08, found that more than 50pc of the population use water with total dissolved solvents of over 5,000 mg/L.
In the wake of the water crisis, the Sindh government announced the installation of Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants. The RO is a process which removes impurities from water by filtration, using membrane technology in various parts of Thar.
Use of brackish water, which at many places has higher levels of fluoride as well, affects the health of Tharis — drinking salt water can lead to several diseases like tooth decay, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, kidney diseases, etc. Young children are especially vulnerable as they are more likely to suffer from diarrhoea — this leaves them malnourished, and at risk of further diseases.
In the wake of the water crisis, the Sindh government announced the installation of Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants. The RO is a process which removes impurities from water by filtration, using membrane technology in various parts of Thar. The process started about a decade ago when 30 RO plants were installed during 2004-2007 when Arabab Ghulam Rahim was Sindh’s chief minister.
The present government’s plans are big — about 700 RO plants at a cost of Rs7 billion are to be installed out of which 350 have been installed in various villages. In January 2015, the hybrid solar desalination plant was set up at a cost of Rs 934million in Mithi. It is supposed to process two million gallons of water per day which will be supplied to the Mithi and Islamkot talukas and nearly 150 villages around them. Claimed to be the largest in Asia, at present it is only supplying 50,000 gallons per day.
Dr Sono Khangharani, chief executive officer of Hisaar Foundation, says that “there is a conflict in supply and demand; there is enough solar power available to run the plant eight hours a day but the plant does not have enough capacity”. He adds that maintaining the plant requires a lot of meticulous care: “The membrane has to be changed frequently but one can’t be sure whether it is being done regularly or not”.
Ali Akbar, a social activist working for Aware which runs projects in districts Tharparkar and Umerkot, revealed that plants both in Chachro and Diplo face problems such as erratic fuel supply and technical issues due to which the plants are often not operational.
“The problem is that people operating the plants aren’t trained; they may not properly use the chemicals that are needed for water treatment. This affects the taste and odour of water and results in people, especially children, suffering from diarrhoea, though there are no major health issues,” Akbar says.
But for Tharis who have to walk long distances to fetch water, it is a case of something being better than nothing. When they get piped water through a motor they tend to use it for all purposes.
However, Nisar Ahmed Memon, deputy commissioner, Mithi, denies the allegations that the RO plants aren’t working efficiently. “The RO plants are expensive, their maintenance is also expensive and it takes time to repair in case of any faults,” he says in an informal discussion with Dawn.
Akbar also points out the negative environmental impact of the RO plants: “The amount of water that’s pulled from underground — almost 40pc of it is rejected and wasted. These impurities and contaminates are flushed down the drain. Though these ought to be disposed of in a manner that they are evaporated, they are absorbed in the soil and mix with the sub-soil water.”
Tharis may also be paying more than they should for the filtered water. Dr Khangharani alleges that water tankers pipe away the water filtered by the RO plants and sell it onwards for Rs3, 500 a tanker — small fortune for many Thari residents.
“Mithi is supplied by piped water only twice or thrice a month; people store this water to last as long as they can but the tanker mafia is becoming active in cities; they take water from the reservoirs or the RO plant and supply it in the city,” Dr Khangharani points out.
Sustainability and long-term viability is another concern for the experts. “The whole project is contracted out. The company is responsible for running and maintaining the plant. A major problem can arise if the company one day decides to pack up and leave [since] they haven’t transferred the technology,” Akbar says.
Akbar feels one way to ensure longevity of RO plants and promote the local economy would be to involve the community. “No local department is taking responsibility for the company; the provincial government is dealing with it directly. It would have been better if Thar’s youth were trained and given responsibility,” he says.
When asked about the involvement of the Thari communities, Memon says that while the RO plants are currently run by the government, the locals can be more involved: “By and large communities do not share the responsibility of maintaining the plants, and expect the government to do everything though they should also share the responsibility,” he says.
Many villages now use solar-powered motors to draw water from wells — often a more feasible and cheaper alternative to RO plants according to NGO workers on the ground.
For instance, the Hisaar Foundation has installed solar-powered motors in some villages where they have trained the locals to run the motors (See A tale of two villages for more details).
As to who bears the cost of maintenance, Dr Khangharani explains that “the motors come with one year warrantee; if it causes trouble during this time, the company repairs it. Usually if the motors runs trouble-free for one year, it works for six to seven years. The local people are ready to bear the cost which is usually not more than Rs5,000-7,000 as water is very important for them.”
But Memon, disagrees and says that installing wells is not feasible as they provide brackish water which is unfit for human consumption. “The RO plants are the need of the hour as they purify and treat the water. As fuel is expensive, we are now installing new plants that run on solar energy. Besides that, diesel-operated plants are difficult to maintain and repair.”
His argument may have some weight but when the RO plants are not providing sufficient water and are proving to be expensive, alternatives have to be explored (See Going against the grain for more details). Till then Tharis may still be running from pillar to post in search of water that isn’t too saline or brackish.
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, March 27th, 2016