The drying of Manchhar Lake

Manchhar Lake, one of Sindh’s best-known freshwater bodies, is showing signs of severe drying this summer, with much of its lake bed now exposed and local fishing communities worried about the future of their livelihoods.

According to a monitored public feed from Dawn Business, an elderly fisherman, Maula Bux Mallah, described a long stretch of the lake bed as bone dry from his small shop near RD-62 on the Bund Manchhar embankment. He said the lake has received little to no inflow from its usual sources, including natural waterways and streams, as well as the Main Nara Valley Drain, now called the Right Bank Outfall Drain-I.

The decline in water has changed daily life along the embankment. Fishermen’s boats now line the banks, while the communities that once depended on a productive lake are finding it harder to earn a living. Mallah, who is associated with efforts to revive the lake through the “Manchhar Bachao Ittehad,” said even wastewater that sometimes reaches the system during rice transplantation in upper Sindh is currently not entering the lake.

The report said Manchhar has long been deprived of the Indus River flows that once replenished it during flood seasons, as well as water from Balochistan through the Khirthar range. It noted that the lake’s ecology and fishing economy have weakened over time, pushing fishing families to move elsewhere in Sindh and Balochistan in search of work. Migratory birds that once arrived in large numbers in winter are also appearing in smaller numbers.

While the irrigation department has placed the lake level at 108.4 feet, Mallah believes it is no more than 105 feet, according to the feed summary. Official records cited in the report say the lake’s level could rise to 123 feet if it received inflows similar to the 2022 floods.

The article also linked Manchhar’s condition to stalled drainage and water projects. It said the RBOD-II project, originally intended to bypass the lake, has remained incomplete for years and has been suspended since 2015. The project has seen repeated cost revisions and, according to the feed, has become a major point of dispute between Sindh, Balochistan and Wapda. The Sindh government has opposed taking over the project in its current form, while the Public Accounts Committee of the Sindh Assembly has called for consultants to help address alignment issues.

Separately, the report noted that the Federal Constitutional Court recently set aside Sindh High Court orders related to the Nai Gaj Dam project, which is also tied to Manchhar’s water future. The dam includes a plan to supply freshwater to the lake through a 52-kilometre pipeline, though the feed said it is too early to judge how effective that measure will be.

The report added that Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro met Wapda Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Mohammad Saeed in Lahore on July 16 to discuss water, food and energy security, including drainage infrastructure in Sindh.

The account is based on a monitored public feed from Dawn Business. Source: Dawn Business - https://www.dawn.com/news/2016984/the-drying-of-manchhar-lake