Groundwater Quality in Tharparker; A Parched Land in Need

Ali Nawaz Rahimoo

Tharparker: The sprawling district of Tharparkar, covered in sand dunes and dry plains, spans over 22,000 square kilometers and is home to approximately 1.5 million people across 2,300 villages.

The district is divided into six administrative talukas; Mithi, Islamkoy, Chachro, Dihlye, Diplo, and Nagarparkar. The arid region is often characterized by erratic rainfall, scorching heat, and frequent dust storms.

It is ranked as the most food-insecure district in Pakistan by The World Food Programme. The Human Development Index (HDI) score is 0.227, lowest among all districts in Sindh. This reflects deep-rooted developmental challenges.

Even with bewildering conditions, Tharparkar has distinguished ecological zones influencing both environmental patterns and human settlement. Each zone is characterized based on water availability and terrain.

Areas like Kha’ur have deep aquifers, often hard to access. Zones like Kantho have shallower water, but with fluoride contamination. Rocky regions like Parker recharge the shallow wells due to the runoff during monsoons while the Vat region faces saltwater intrusion due to proximity to the marshes.

These zones present a collage of climate and water challenges, each zone demanding its own tailored response.

Invisible Enemy

Water scarcity in the Tharparker is a chronic and acute problem. The lack of public water supply systems force most people to depend on groundwater which is dangerously high in fluoride.

Due to drying up of the rain-fed reservoirs, the residents have no choice but to consume groundwater.

By doing so they exceed the World Health Organization’s safe fluoride limit of 1.5 mg per litre. This long term exposure to fluoride leads to irreversible health issues, including dental and skeletal fluorosis, bone deformities, nervous system damage, and thyroid complications.

Poor access to health care white spread malnutrition and poverty adds up to these risks.

women and girls are majorly affected due to walking long distances to fetch water everyday. They often carry heavy loads that endanger their health, especially during pregnancy. This labour intensive task takes some time and energy, and deprives them of education and income opportunities.

agriculture in the Tharparker also suffers. The drought resistant crops like millet, mung beans, bulgar wheat, chilli, and oilseeds, struggle due to prolonged dry periods. dietary diversity is also limited due to less availability of fruits and vegetables. Repeated crop failures lead to hunger and add to the cycle of poverty.

Alarming Realities

Studies have confirmed the severe water contamination in Tharparker. A joint investigation by Dow University of Health Sciences, the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial research, and local NGO AWARE revealed that more than 80 percent of the groundwater available in the district is unfit for drinking.

More water testing results from 2003 to 2008 showed that over 50 percent of the population was consuming water with Total Dissolve Solids (TDS). TDS refers to the combined presence of organic and inorganic substances dissolved in water, including minerals, salts, and metals.

The TDS consumption levels were reported over 5,000 mg per liter, which is three times more than the 1,500 mg per liter limit set by WHO.

In Naroowar village, TDS level spiked to 20,000 mg per liter, and fluoride concentrations up to 32 mg per liter high.

These amounts are far beyond any acceptable threshold. Such extreme contamination can be caused by both natural and human-induced issues.

The area is geologically mineral rich, but lack of monitoring, safe water infrastructures, and effective governance is where the real problem lies. Urgent and targeted actions are necessary to avoid both human and environmental hazards.

Traditional Wisdom

Community wells, hand pumps, rain-fed reservoirs, and donkey- or camel-powered water lifting systems are what Tharis, the residents of Thar, have always relied on. These slow but laborious methods were well-suited to the region’s ecological diversity and deprivation.

In modern times as of today, most wells are privately owned, often shared informally among neighboring houses. Rainwater harvesting and small-scale groundwater through old traditional methods, called “tarais” and “tobhas”, are still in practice today.

Many government-led solutions have failed to take local realities into account. Installations like reverse osmosis (RO) plants and tube wells often break down or tend to become inoperable due to technical flaws, lack of maintenance, or insufficient community involvement.

Much of the infrastructure is ineffective because of poor planning, centralized control, and underinvestment. A bottom-up and strong planning combined with community ownership can fix this mismatch between imposed solutions and ground realities.

Sustainable Water Future

To address the crisis, Tharparker needs an effort that combines traditional knowledge with modern and context-sensitive technology. Installing defluoridation and desalination plants in high risk zones is recommended.

Also building check dams to recharge aquifers will be helpful.

Involving local communities in every stage of the water project planning, implementation, and maintenance, is a participatory approach that can build trust and ensure long term success.

Water equity is also a pressing issue. Any proposed solution must ensure all communities receive fair access to clean water regardless of their location or social standing.

Affordable technologies like solar-powered pumps, windmills, and community-managed RO plants are a ray of hope. When tailored to local conditions and managed by local communities themselves, these innovations have a higher chance of long-term stability.

The challenges might be vast, localized and inclusive water governance can help mitigate them. Concrete and focused efforts from both, the government and the civil society, can chart a path towards improved public health, food security, and climate resilience in Tharparkar.

The article is the writer’s opinion, it may or may not adhere to the organization’s editorial policy.

The writer is a social development professional based in Umerkot Sindh. He can be contacted on anrahimoo@gmail.com.

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