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Arsenic (As) in natural hydrological systems is known as a worldwide major environmental concern. A geochemical and sedimentological study was done to ascertain the origin and geographical distribution of As in surface water and fluvial sediment collected from the floodplains/basins of the River Indus and its four major tributaries that drain through the northern Pakistan. The hydrogeochemical compositions of all five rivers were similar with calcium (Ca2+) and bicarbonate (HCO 3 −) being the dominating ions. The concentration of As ranged from 0.62–24.05 μg/L (average 3.7 ± 3.5 μg/L, n = 61) in river water, 2.3–23.4 mg/kg (average 5.7 ± 3.9 mg/kg) in suspended sediment, and 2.0–13 mg/kg (average 4.13 ± 2.3 mg/kg) in fluvial sediment. Various approaches were used, including mineralogical, sequential extraction, geochemical, and statistical analyses to investigate the distribution, behavior, and potential sources of As in the sediment. The effect of geological factors on the distribution of As was also studied. No noticeable changes in the relative abundance of minerals were observed in the sediment at different locations along the river. Both mineralogical and statistical analyses showed that silicate minerals like muscovite, biotite, and chloride are the main As reservoir while oxides minerals like hematite and magnetite, which are minor components in the sediment are second largest As carrier. A geochemical baseline, using the normalization and cumulative frequency distribution curves was constructed for As. The estimated mean human contribution of As was 3.4% in the Indus River, 1.9% in the Jhelum River, 13.7% in the Chenab River, 17.5% in the Ravi River and 5.4% in the Sutlej River, indicating relatively higher effects of anthropogenic activity along the Chenab River and Ravi River. The almost negligible effects of anthropogenic activities were additionally confirmed through the pollution assessment parameters estimated from the geo-enrichment, contamination factors, and accumulation index analyses. The current data suggest that As transported by the Indus River and its major tributaries is accumulated in the sediment and is potentially incorporated in the sedimentary aquifers situated along the Indus Basin and surrounding areas. Based on the current study, it is concluded that the source of As is dominantly geogenic whereas the role of anthropogenic activities is considered negligible except along the Ravi River which showed relatively a higher percentage (17.5%) of human or industrial contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in temperature and hydro-meteorological patterns in Indus basin due to climate change are believed to be impacting farming communities in different ways. From a gender perspective however, impacts of change vary from place to place, household to household and for individual members of the household due to a multiplicity of factors including expectation of individual members of a household to take additional responsibilities in difficult times. As an unavoidable coping strategy, the affected communities in upper Indus basin are compelled to send male members away from home in search of alternate sources of livelihoods. This compels women to take additional responsibilities at farm, household and community levels which ultimately increase the vulnerabilities of local women. However, scenario is different in mid-stream, where women have an additional workload to manage water requirements for household and livestock. While in downstream of the basin, women are culturally and socially dependent on men which increase their vulnerability many folds. Therefore, differentiated analysis of climate change impacts, based on gender roles and responsibilities, is crucial in climate change research. This paper presents gendered vulnerabilities at different scales in up, mid and downstream of the basin. • Population in the upper basin has poor financial capital as compare to people living in the middle and lower basins. • Environment for women and their participation in social activities at up-stream is providing more opportunities as compare to mid-stream basin. • Climate change has direct effect on natural resources, livelihood and health of the people living along indus especially living in up-stream basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) is the world's largest contiguous irrigation system, irrigating over 2.5 million acres and running over 90,000 km of watercourses. It ensures equitable water distribution to farmers through irrigation rosters or warabandi (literally meaning “taking turns”) which is a fixed-turn rotation system following a time roster issued by the government agencies. To study this irrigation system, we have developed an Internet-of-Things (IoT) inspired custom-built water metering network, capable of near real-time reporting of flow discharges through GPRS and backend server services. In 2013-14, a network of flow meters was deployed on 17 distributary canals in the Hakra Branch Canal command in IBIS covering more than two cropping seasons. By comparing the captured water distribution data (sampled every 10 minutes) with Punjab Irrigation Department (PID) issued warabandi rosters, an analysis of the warabandi rosters is presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the Indus Basin Water Strategy for Pakistan. It begins with a historical overview of the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS), the Indus Basin Replacement Works (1960-1980) and the Indus Basin Salinity Control Efforts (1960-2000). The paper then looks at the IBIS irrigation and salinity control investments that have taken place over the last decade (2000-2010). The paper goes on to look at the present situation of the IBIS as well as discuss an IBIS strategy for the next decade. Finally, the paper discusses supply side and demand management strategies for IBIS. Overall, the paper concludes that Pakistan should focus on (1) Creating Additional Surface Storage, (2) Preserving surface water (particularly through lining canals), (3) Controlling Groundwater and controlling salinity (by discouraging excessive tube-well use), (4) Encouraging general efficiency of irrigation water use (through improved land management techniques), (5) Enhancing yields through improved farming practices, and (6) Fully meeting the environmental concerns of the Indus Delta, river systems and wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We present three spatially explicit scenarios for future water, food and energy security requirements in the Indus basin. • Water and energy requirements in the basin are projected to potentially triple, while food requirements may double at most. • The increase in resource requirements converges around the basin's largest cities due to urbanisation and population change. • Policy makers and integrated modelling studies must account for the spatial heterogeneity in future resource security challenges when designing adaptation strategies. Integrated adaptation strategies are needed to achieve the highly interlinked Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for water, food- and energy security in the Indus basin. However, detailed quantitative scenarios for the plausible dimensions of future resource security requirements under socio-economic development are lacking. Here we define three quantitative and spatially downscaled scenarios for future water, food and energy requirements in the Indus basin and we assess the implications of socio-economic development for the integrated resource security challenge. High-resolution gridded scenarios for resource security requirements are developed by combining three regionalised and spatialised Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) with quantitative regional water, food and energy security thresholds. The results demonstrate that by 2080 basin level water- and energy security requirements are likely to at least double and potentially triple compared to the current situation. Food requirements could increase only marginally and double at most. Migration and urbanisation additionally drive the growing requirements to spatially converge around the largest cities of the basin. This demonstrates that socio-economic development increases the complexity of the water-food-energy security challenge by increasing its magnitude and spatial concentration. Future research and policymaking should anticipate for this heterogeneous growth of resource security challenges when developing adaptation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change threatens global sustainability, especially in rural communities of developing countries. In Pakistan, severe impacts of climate change have become evident in the recent past. Large-scale floods in the Indus river system have caused massive damages in the past decade. Also, frequent droughts and heatwaves are among other consequences of the changing climate in the country. Understanding the perspective of local communities regarding climate change adaptation strategies is pivotal to effective policymaking. We surveyed the rural community in the Indus Basin, in southern Punjab, Pakistan, to assess the climate change adaptations currently practiced. We found that the respondents perceive droughts, floods, and disease outbreaks (which are frequently followed by flooding events) as major climate change-induced threats. The respondents used flood and drought-resistant crop varieties, field boundaries (spate irrigation), migration to safe places, and loans as key adaptation strategies. We also assessed the socioeconomic determinants of climate change adaptation behaviour using a binary logistic regression model. Gender, occupation, and education influenced the adaptations to climate change. The present study highlights the need for monetary support to flood-prone communities, better medical facilities, provision of drought and flood-resistant crop varieties, and awareness campaigns to enhance adaptive capacity in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contaminated groundwater is considered as one of the most important pathways of human exposure to the geogenic contaminants. Present study has been conducted in a part of Indus basin to investigate the presence and spatial distribution of arsenic (As) and other trace metals in groundwater. The As concentration varies from bdl-255.6 μg/L and 24.6% of the 73 collected groundwater samples have As above world health organization (WHO) guideline of 10 μg/L. High concentration of As is found along the newer alluvium of Ravi River. As is found with high bicarbonate (HCO 3 −) and Iron (Fe) and low nitrate (NO 3 −) indicating reductive dissolution of Fe bearing minerals. However, silicate weathering along with high sulphate (SO 4 2) and positive oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) indicates mixed redox conditions. Weathering of minerals along with other major hydrogeochemical process are responsible for composition of groundwater. With 31.5% of the samples, sodium bicarbonate (Na–HCO 3) is the major water facies followed by magnesium bicarbonate (Mg–HCO 3) in 30% of samples. As, Fe and other trace metals including copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn) were used to calculate the health risk for children and adults in the region. Out of 73 samples, 58% has high Fe, 32.8% has high Zn, and 4.1% has high Cd which are above the prescribed limits of WHO guidelines. Health risk of the population has been assessed using chronic dose index (CDI), hazardous quotients (HQ) and hazardous index (HI) for children and adults. The mean CDI values follows the order as Fe > Zn > Cu > As > Cr > Cd, while the HQ values indicates high As hazards for both children and adults. 43.8% of the groundwater samples have high HI for adults, however, 49.3% has high HI for children indicating higher risk for children compared to adults. A large-scale testing should be prioritized to test the wells for As and other trace metals in the study region to reduce health risks. Image 1 • The highest concentration of As is 255 μg/L. • Mixed oxic-anoxic conditions favor As mobilization in groundwater. • The concentration of Fe, Zn and Cd is also found above WHO guidelines. • HQ values indicates high As hazards for both children and adults. • HI is found to be high for 43% and 49% for adult and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]