Manchar Lake
Manchar Lake located at a distance of about 18 kms from Sehwan Sharif, district Dadu, west of the River Indus is by far the largest freshwater lake in Pakistan and one of the largest in Asia. It is a vast natural depression flanked by the Khirthar hills in the west and the Laki hills in the south. The area of the lake fluctuates with the seasons from as little as 350 km² to 520 km². The lake collects water from numerous small streams in the Kirthar Mountains and empties into the Indus River. It provided a livelihood for a large number of fishermen, irrigation water for various crops and aquatic plants including lotus. The lake was created in the 1930's when the Sukkur Barrage was constructed on the river Indus. The lake is fed by two canals , the Aral Wah Canal and the Danister Canal from the river Indus. Until recently the lake supported thousands of fisher folk who depended on the freshwater fish they caught in the lake. However, the lake is now undergoing environmental degradation resulting in the water becoming saline killing off the fish and forcing the fisher folk to look elsewhere for employment. Until recently, the lake was a stop-off on the Indus flyway for Siberian migratory birds, but now the numbers have fallen from 25,000 birds counted in 1988 to just 2800 bird counted in 2002, because the lake no longer provides the birds' main food, the lake fish. In the place of the birds, the lake now hosts a saline water reed.
