Salt Water Intrusion in Sindh  

The flow of water in River Indus effectively checks salt-water intrusion from the Arabian Sea into the flood plains of Indus. During the past few decades, as the storage and consumption of water has continued to increase in the northern plains, seawater has started flowing up in to Indus and its estuaries.

With the reverse flow of salt water into the southern part of Sindh, the sweet water aquifer gets contaminated, adding to the salinity of irrigated lands.

A symposium conducted by Pakistan National Institute of Oceanography and National Science Foundation in October 1982 at Karachi established that salt-water intrusion into the plains of lower Sindh is directly related to the decrease of flow in the River Indus.

To counter the problem, 10 MAF have tentatively been provided for in the Indus Water Accord 1991.  

Until adequate water is released to Indus downstream of Kotri, it is feared that the seawater intrusion, combined with raised level of the Arabian Sea, will make Thatta, Badin and southern parts of Hyderabad District waterlogged marshlands.