Water

The Sutlej

Between releases, the Sutlej bed is farmland and grazing. That reality shapes everything: the river is not a constant supply, it is an occasional event that can also flood. Building — and cultivating — in the floodplain is the single most repeated mistake in the district.

Canals do the real work

Almost all irrigation here is canal-fed. Two problems dominate. Losses in unlined watercourses waste a large share before it reaches a field. And tail-end farmers get less water, later, than head-end farmers on the same channel — an equity problem more than an engineering one.

Groundwater

Where canal water is short, tubewells fill the gap, and the water table drops. In parts of Cholistan the usable aquifer is thin, brackish and slow to recharge. Once it turns saline, it does not come back on any human timescale.

Quality

The problems we test for are bacterial contamination near settlements, salinity in the south, and arsenic in specific pockets. Household filtration helps with the first and does nothing for the third — which is why testing before treating matters.

What works

• Lining watercourses — the cheapest litre of water is the one not lost in transit.
• Laser levelling and drip on orchards.
• Repairing toba ponds so rainfall is stored where it falls.
• Rooftop rainwater harvesting on schools and mosques.
• Publishing tubewell depths, so decline is a public fact rather than a rumour.