As the sun rises in the village of Shaikh Kiryo Bhandari, Ghulam Hussain Mallah, 42, and his 18-year-old son, Ghulam Nabi, are busy roping two empty 10-litre drums to their motorcycles.

Shaikh Kiryo Bhandari (SKB) lies some 40 kilometres south of Badin city, along the coast of the Arabian Sea, and the father and son are about to leave for Sirani, a small trading town 16 kilometres northeast of their village, where they will get the empty drums filled with water for 50 rupees each.

Until four months ago, the Mirwah canal, originating from Phuleli canal at Alipur Cross Regulator in Tehsil Matli of District Badin, provided fresh water to the remote SKB. Originally built during the British Raj in 1928 with the purpose of draining floodwater into the sea, the Mirwah canal was remodelled during Gen Ayub Khan’s regime. It is now a distributary of the Phuleli canal, providing water to the far-flung coastal population and lands of district Badin.

Allah Rakhiyo Khaskheli, a teacher in village Golo Mandhro, explains that the population of the coastal areas relied on the Mirwah canal for water. But since the last four months, the people of this belt have not seen water flowing in it. “Sometimes the water reaches through Mirwah, but not on a regular basis,” he says.

Fishermen on Badin’s coast are increasingly facing a double-whammy of a water crisis. With no freshwater coming in the canals, fish stocks are getting depleted in the lakes while sea intrusion has turned their groundwater brackish

Since the Mirwah canal has dried up, purchasing water for drinking and domestic use has become part of the villagers’ daily routine, but only for those who can afford it.

“Four drums of water cost 200 rupees,” says Mallah. “Add to that the exorbitant fuel cost for our motorcycles. It means that we pay about 700 rupees daily for just 20 litres of water. It’s too expensive, but we have no other option.”

Like their ancestors, Ghulam Hussain Mallah and most of the villagers are fishermen. But since Badin’s Nareri lake has run out of fish stocks because of the unavailability of fresh water, mixing up of pollutant waste, and drying up of the Mirwah canal, many fishermen have moved to Karachi and Hyderabad to work on daily wages.

Fifty-year-old housewife Haseena Mallah is also a resident of SKB. Her husband and a son work in Karachi, earning 30,000 rupees, a major part of which is spent on buying water. “Living in Sindh’s coastal villages is not easy,” she says. “We buy water worth 18,000 rupees every month for our joint family of 14, because there is no other option for provision of water.”

This village comprises over 100 households of the Mallah, Shaikh, Mandhro and Khaskheli clans, and those who find it affordable, purchase water for drinking and domestic use. Others make do with brackish water, because they cannot afford to buy freshwater.

Nazeeran Mallah, a 45-year-old widow, lives with her disabled son Haji and his wife in village Bhugra Memon. Since Haji only earns 200 rupees a day, they cannot afford to purchase water from outside their village.

“Mostly, we use brackish water from the handpump in the adjacent village, for which my daughter-in-law and I walk 5 kilometres,” she says. “Sometimes, we just beg the neighbours for water.”

The coastal villagers claim that the underground water available from handpumps has become very saline and perhaps even poisonous, hence it is unsafe for consumption. A 2019 study ‘Deterioration of Ground Water Quality through Sea Intrusion in Coastal Area of District Badin’ endorses the villagers’ claim.

On the other hand, the freshwater sellers in this part of Sindh’s coastal belt face their own set of problems and believe that they are providing water at a low price to help people tackle the acute water shortage.

“We rent out the water tankers with drivers, machinery and other stuff,” says Muhammad Juman*, who runs a fleet of five water bowsers, fetching water from different canals of Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan and Tando Allahyar districts, to sell along the coastal belt. “The prices of fuel have shot up, and people must understand that we also have families to provide for.”

Another water supplier Chanesar Khan*, feels that a 10-litre drum of water for 50 rupees is not overpriced, considering the locals don’t have a drop of water to drink. “We provide water to the far-flung villages of the coastal belt, from where people cannot afford to reach a central point to purchase water.”

Ameer Bux Mandhro, president of the Mandhar Development Society, a Badin-based civil society organisation, says that the government must urgently think about programming sustainable solutions for the water problem in the coastal villages.

“They should immediately provide water to these people who have no access to canal water,” says Mandhro. “The government already has the water tankers, machinery, fuel and staff that is required to fetch water from the upper districts of Sindh, and to distribute to the coastal villages on a daily basis.”

Khaskheli warns that if the water scarcity continues, next year might see a mass migration of people from the coastal belt. “Sea intrusion is playing havoc from the south and making water brackish, while water sources have depleted in the north. How will people survive without water?”

Despite protests by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) in Sindh, however, the government has not addressed the water issue of Sindh’s coastal belt.

“Ninety percent freshwater lakes in Badin district, which were once the bread and butter for generations of fishing communities living here, are destroyed because of the unavailability of water in the canals,” says Aslam Mallah, the communication secretary of PFF.

The district government of Badin’s justification, for the shortfall of water in the canals in Badin district, is that the Kotri Barrage — which supplies water to Badin — is receiving less amount of water than required. It is partly true, as there is a shortfall of water coming from Punjab in Sindh’s barrage water system.

But the district Badin government shies away from admitting to the pilferage of water by influential landlords from upper parts of the districts of Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan and Tando Allahyar. This happens before water from the Kotri Barrage reaches the canals in Badin district.

While Sindh’s coastal villagers struggle to survive the worsening water scarcity amidst poverty, and water suppliers rake in business, the water crisis persists and continues to grow. Ironic for people living next to the sea.

**Names changed upon request*

The writer is a freelance journalist and can be reached at abbaskhaskheli110@gmail.com.

He tweets at @mabas_khaskheli.

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 17th, 2022