Central Asia Journal No. 67

Role of Kabul River in Socio-economic Activities and Associated Environmental Problems

Mohammad Nafees*

Abstract

In this paper a detailed account of the Kabul River has been given to highlight its socio-economic importance and point out associated environmental problems. To identify income generating activities in Pakistan field visits were conducted and people in the business were interviewed which was supplemented by secondary data. The present riparian uses include drinking, washing, bathing and also feeding it to livestock. Water quality is deteriorated by two means i.e. decrease water quantity and discharge of municipal and industrial effluents. Due to a small industrial base Afghanistan does not deteriorate water quality of the river but had constructed seven dams on Kabul River and its tributaries. Two dams are used for irrigating the Kabul and Nangarhar provinces. Pakistan had constructed one dam on main Kabul River (Warsak Dam), irrigating Peshawar, Nowshera and Charsada districts and five dams on its tributaries. If all the dams in Afghanistan become functional it may affect water quantity and will have negative impacts on the irrigation system of Pakistan as well as its ecological set-up. In Pakistan Kabul River receives wastewater directly from various industries situated in the mentioned districts; deteriorating water quality and making it unfit for the mentioned riparian uses also adversely affect aquatic flora and fauna in which migratory birds are of major economic importance. It is concluded that both countries are using Kabul River for socioeconomic uplift without ecological consideration. It is therefore recommended to bring the uses of river water under the concept of Prior-appropriation, to overcome water-shortage, pollution problems and avert future economic loss to the people living along the river bank.

Keywords: Water Pollution, Riparian Ownership, Prior Appropriation, Socio-Economic

Introduction

About 200 rivers are shared by two or more countries in which the upstream region creates problems for the downstream region and water related conflicts are a growing issue worldwide . For example Amu and Syr darya (rivers) are good examples from Central Asian region, which are heavily used in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and affect the ecology of Aral Sea. Pakistan receives six rivers from India i.e., Indus, Jehlam, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlaj and had caused several disputes between these two countries. Similarly Pakistan receives one river (Kabul River) from Afghanistan, which is the major water body of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and till now un-disputed.
Two main streams contribute to the Kabul River. One originates form Chitral in the form of Chitral River in Hindu-Kush range situated in the north of Pakistan and the other is Kabul River originating in the Sang-Lakh range south-west of Kabul City. In Jalalabad these two rivers get combine to form the main Kabul River. Throughout its entire stretch Kabul River is joined by more than 100 major and minor tributaries from both the countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Both countries are dependent on agriculture and Kabul River is widely used for agriculture and power generation and plays a great role in the economic uplift.
In this way Kabul River is a shared resource between Afghanistan and Pakistan and both countries, have equal rights to use it for their socio-economic uplift. To handle joint water resource, two doctrines are applicable worldwide i.e. riparian ownership and prior appropriation. In the former case all stake holders situated along the river bank are allowed to use river water without deteriorating its quality and quantity. The latter is based on “first in time, first in right” principle. Under this doctrine the upstream (Afghanistan) and down-stream (Pakistan) stake holders have to respect their activities started already along with pre-existing ecological setup. Mimi and Sawsalhi (2003) identify eight factors for distribution and proper utilization of a shared water resource. This include geography, hydrology, climate, past utilization, economic and social need, population dependent costs of alternative means, availability of other resources and state of basin (ecology).
To establish any kind of ownership (Riparian or prior appropriation) ecology has been given top priority. Kabul River has quite rich ecology in terms of biodiversity and is also used for re-creation and fishing.
Kabul River also provides a good habitat for local and migratory birds. The various migratory birds’ species include starling, Waterfowl, and Waders. Chitral is the in and out gateway for these birds follow the route of Chitral River entering Afghanistan at Arundu and giving entry in Pakistan at Mohmand Agency. The various ducks observed in the Kabul River areas include pintail, shoveller, Widgeon, Mallard, Garganey, Tufted and ruddy Shelduck, herons, lapwings, egrets, gulls and terns. In this way the pollution and decrease in water quantity will have negative impact on migratory birds.
To protect the status of Kabul River as habitat for various fish and birds both countries are signatory to various international conventions and treaties, such as Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species (CITES), Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the Convention on Biological Diversity. In this regards it is obligatory on both the countries to look after Kabul River ecology.   
In this study an attempt has been made to give a detailed account of past and present economic activities attached with Kabul River with reference to water quality. To know about pollution load of Kabul River water and its main effluents drains were analyzed for physico-chemical parameters by following standard methods of water and wastewater analysis. For economic activities like irrigation, and hydro power generation, field and literature survey was carried out.

Historical Background of Pollution in Kabul River

In the early eighty there were few industries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, discharging their waste directly into Kabul River. The pollution impacts identified at that time was termed as minimum and localized. With the passage of time more and more industries were installed. Sarhad Development Authority (SDA) played an important role by establishing industrial estate in Hattar, Gadoon, Amangrah (Nowshera), Peshawar and Dara Ismail Khan. In 1982 the impact of industrial effluents was studied. It was observed that the industries directly discharge their waste into the river negatively affecting aquatic fauna. Various industries which were blamed for heavy pollution load include paper, ghee and textile. In 1983 it was quantified and an increasing trend was observed with negative impact on flora and fauna of Kabul River.
Kamin et al (1985) worked on sulfide contamination. They observed that the sulfide level of waste water joining Kabul River was above the permissible limit of 1 mg/l which has negative impact on aquatic life. Sohail (1989) studied  suspended load and other material thrown in Kabul River are accumulating on the river bed affecting bottom feeding organisms and has negative impacts on water quality. This study was further supported by Khalid (1989). According to him the area downstream of Noswshera was considered not fit for aquatic life.
In 1993 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), Peshawar and Department of Environmental Planning and Management, University of Peshawar carried out a detailed survey of the Kabul River and its tributaries. According to that study Sha-alam River was found to be the most polluted river and was considered unfit for drinking, bathing, washing and fishing. While the Naguman and Adezai were observed comparatively clean. Another study was conducted on the same line, which indicated a ten times increase in pollution load since 1982.

Human Settlement along the River’s Banks and its contribution to Pollution load

The total length of Kabul River is 1500 km (Kabul River and its tributaries) almost 50% of which is located inside Pakistan. In Pakistan, throughout its length about 1000 villages and 20 cities are directly or indirectly dependent on Kabul River. The pollution load contributed by the villages is negligible as observed during the survey of Adezai River. Nullahs of 10 villages with a of population 5 to10 thousands were analyzed for pollution load. Keeping in view the various standards, carrying capacity of the river and dilution factor, their impacts were found as negligible. In terms of pollution load cities and industrial towns are playing detrimental role. In Pakistan Chitral, Darosh, Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera and Jehangira are the cities contributing both domestic sewage and industrial effluents directly to Kabul River. Cities like Dir and Temargara contribute their sewage waste through the Punjkora River, while Kalam, Bahrain, Mingora, Batkhela and Dargai cities contribute the same through Swat River while Mardan, Sher-Garh and Takhtbhai through the Kalpani River (Table 1, 2 & 3).
In Afghanistan four provinces situated in the catchment area effluents are joining Kabul River. Among these the cities are of prime concern from pollution point of view. These include Asadabad, Sarobi, Kabul, and Jalalabad. The sewages of these cities are directly discharged into Kabul River mainstream the effect of which can be seen in the form of coliform at Warsak Dam when compared with that at Chitral (Table 2 & 3).

Table 1: Table 2:

Table-3:

Hydro Electricity

There are three main sources of electrical energy in Pakistan i.e. Hydel, Thermal and Nuclear. Hydro electricity is the major source of energy with 53% contribution to electrical energy supply, 45% is achieved from thermal power plant, while nuclear is small producer with 2% contribution. In this regard the Kabul River water system has great contribution (Table 4 and 5). On Kabul River Warsak Dam was constructed in 1960 with the help of Canadian Government. The initial installed capacity was 160 MW which was increased to 240 MW. In 1980 the river was completely silted up due to which it cannot store water. This brought down 100 MW decrease in the power generation capacity. The increase in suspended load can possibly be attributed to heavy deforestation and marble mining activities in Chitral and Mohmand Agency. The present study revealed that since 1977 suspended solid (SS)/load  has increased eight times and may increase further, which may also affect the irrigation in Peshawar and Charsada region (Table 1 and 2).
In Afghanistan there are seven dams on Kabul River six are for electricity only (Table 5). These dams can also be used for irrigation. Chaghe dam is only for irrigation, while Darunta dam is for both irrigation and electricity production. Due to unrest in Afghanistan these dams are not operating properly.
Dam has got no impact on water quality but blocks fish routes, and if used for irrigation will affect water quantity which has got negative impact on aquatic fauna.

Table – 4: Main Dams on the Kabul River System in Pakistan

Source: WAPDA 2010

Table – 5: Main Dams on the Kabul River System in Afghanistan

(Source, Lashkaripour G. R. and S. A. Hussaini. 2008)

Role of Kabul River in Agriculture

The primary occupation of 85% people in Afghanistan and 70% people in Pakistan is agriculture. In Afghanistan 12% area is cultivable, 53% of which is irrigated and 47% is dry farming. Of the total irrigated land 80-85% is irrigated by canal system, and 15-20% is irrigated by Karez, spring or wells. Catchment area of Kabul River system in Afghanistan is 60.6 thousand km2 which is 9.3% of the total area in Afghanistan, out of which 81.74% is irrigated and 18.26% is rain-fed. Kabul River is used for irrigation in central and eastern regions irrigating a total of 20% (14% of the permanently and 6% of intermediate irrigated areas) of the whole Afghanistan.
In Pakistan Kabul River irrigates three main districts i.e. Peshawar, Charsada and Nowshera. In Peshawar 80%, Nowshera 47.38%, and Charsada 84.67% cultivable land is irrigated form Kabul River. In terms of irrigation the total contribution of Kabul River to the total of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 16.92%.
Among the studied water quality parameters (Table 1 and 2) suspended solids (SS) will increase soil, silt and clay contents, which is a source of micro and macro-nutrients, but is creating problem of siltation in canals, which create hurdle in irrigation. Each year government spends millions of rupees in canal cleaning. BOD is a measure of organic matter in water and is always required for good soil. pH range was also found suitable as suggested by Mader et.al (2002), helpful to make both, micro and macro-nutrients available to plants. The pH of wastewater joining Kabul River was found high, which with the passage of time can create problems in terms of decreasing soil fertility.

Industries Located Along the Kabul River

Pakistan started its journey of economic activities with a weak industrial base in 1947. Since then substantial progress has been made. The period from 1947 to 1971 is one of the rapid industrial growths. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, industrial development started in 1938 with the establishment of Frontier Sugar Mills at Mardan followed by Sarhad Colony Textile Mill Nowshera in 1951 . After this, tremendous development has been made. Now in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa there are 15 industrial estates (five major and 10 small) most of them discharge their waste to Kabul River. Amangrah Industrial Estate, Nowshera contributes directly to the Kabul River, Hayatabad Industrial Estate and Kohat Industrial Estates discharge indirectly to Kabul River via Budni Nullah and Ganda Erab respectively. Besides, there are so many industries, scattered though out Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Such as Mardan, Swat etc. Wastes generated from these scattered industries also join Kabul River indirectly (Mardan through Kalpani, and Swat and Charsadda through Swat River). In total there are 1848 industrial units in the province.
During the survey 15% (Peshawar 205, Charsada 10, Nowshera 41 and Mardan 45) industries were found in the watershed of Kabul River. Among these the important industries include sugar mills, ghee (edible oil), textile,  tanneries, paper, pharmaceutical,  paint, varnish, rubber and plastic industries exist which are dumping their industrial effluent waste into the Kabul River.
In comparison to Afghanistan, Pakistan appears to be the major effluent contributor to the Kabul River. In Afghanistan the first factory was built in Kabul in 1887 to produce coins and spare parts required for the military. Later on at the same site, the manufacturing of woolen goods, soap and a printing press was added. In 1974-75 a textile industry was introduced and became the major industry of Afghanistan. During 1974-75 Kabul with the largest number of industries, was contributing waste directly to Kabul River. After 1979 there was regular decline and after 1990 Afghanistan had no industry to contribute pollution load to Kabul River. The contribution of other small scale industries, although were there, but negligible. Pollution has been observed locally around industrial units and estates. Untreated wastes are discharged and dumped on land, into water bodies such as the Kabul, Indus and Swat Rivers, degrading the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem of the province.
Pakistan is using Kabul River as waste dumping site and can be called as riparian use. It has negative impacts inside Pakistan and affecting the riparian rights of the people living along the bank in terms of drinking, bathing, fishing and washing.

Conclusion

Various uses of river water along the river bank by its inhabitants are riparian in nature and have negligible impacts on water quality.  Pakistan is making use of Kabul River while Afghanistan is potential user in the future. At present, irrigation and production of electricity are the major uses in Afghanistan. If Afghanistan utilizes all seven dams for irrigation purpose it will cause decrease in water quantity and will further deteriorate the present ecological set up. Similarly completion of the Munda dam in Pakistan will further decrease the flow of Kabul River. Therefore, prior-appropriation doctrine is suggested to look after the pre-existing ecological set up.
Besides electricity generation and irrigation from Kabul River and its tributaries, Pakistan also uses it for waste disposal including municipal sewage and industrial effluents, which is deteriorating water quality and making it unfit for migratory birds and other fauna. Therefore, to keep Kabul River alive and productive treatment plants should be installed for treating industrial and municipal effluents.

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