The Economist | South Asia’s water: Unquenchable thirst

By KESLS RAM -
The Economist
South Asia's water
A growing rivalry between India, Pakistan and China over the region's great rivers may be threatening South Asia's peace

DELHI, DHAKA, ISLAMABAD AND SRINAGAR

SONAULLAH PHAPHO has spent half a century picking a living from Wular lake high in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Today he is lucky if he scoops a fish or two out of the soupy mess. Push a boat into the knee-deep lake and the mud raises a stink of sewage. A century ago Wular and its surrounding marshes covered more than 217 square kilometres (84 square miles), making it one of Asia's larger freshwater lakes. Now, thanks to silt and encroachment, the extraction of water by nearby towns and tree planting on the shore, it measures only 87 sq km and is shrinking.



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