The current study attempted to evaluate the water quality in terms of physico-chemical properties, metals, and bacteriological characteristics of the surface water available in Shigar Valley located along Shigar River...The current study attempted to evaluate the water quality in terms of physico-chemical properties, metals, and bacteriological characteristics of the surface water available in Shigar Valley located along Shigar River in sub-district Shigar of district Skardu, Gilgit Baltistan (GB), Pakistan. A total of 17 water samples were collected during 2020 and analysed to perform multivariate analysis through principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA). Spatial distribution using inverse distance weight (IDW) interpolation was also utilised to determine the water quality in the valley to elucidate public health concerns. The study reveals that physico-chemical characteristics are the most important that affect water quality, followed by metals and bacteriological variables, according to a PCA application based on multivariate analysis. Examinations found that some of the metals including arsenic (As), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and molybdenum (Mo) and all bacteriological parameters enlisting total coliform count (TCC), total faecal coliform (TFC), and total faecal streptococci (TFS) are not following the WHO guidelines that could be hazardous from the public health viewpoint. The IDW-based spatial distribution indicates that water samples have an intermittent and unusual distribution of observed parameters. Having considerable community settlements, people in the valley have limited options and have no choice except to consume the available water as no alternate source is available. People hardly question the water quality and rarely examine the water potability. The study also demonstrated that combining PCA with IDW would be a powerful method for assessing water quality. It is suggested that the sources of contamination be investigated further in detail to reduce the pollution load of the surface water in the valley, which could aid in the development of sustainable ecotourism.展开更多
Farmer-managed irrigation systems(FMIS) in the high altitude valleys of the Karakorum,Pakistan, continue to be managed effectively despite increased pressure on the social arrangements that sustain them. Colonial era ...Farmer-managed irrigation systems(FMIS) in the high altitude valleys of the Karakorum,Pakistan, continue to be managed effectively despite increased pressure on the social arrangements that sustain them. Colonial era records shows that over a century ago government agencies undertook irrigation support projects. In the past three decades,government agencies and the non-government agency Aga Khan Rural Support Programme(AKRSP), which channels foreign funds into the region, have actively engaged in the provision of irrigation support. This article seeks to explore whether such projects support or undermine farmer-managed irrigation systems and the complex institutional arrangements that underpin them. Field research using ethnographic and participatory methods was conducted in spring 2013 in the upper Shigar valley, Skardu district, GilgitBaltistan. The findings show that irrigation development is a political activity that involves village-based actors, religious leaders, local politicians,and government and non-government agencies.Government agencies operate in a largely top-down,engineering mode, their larger projects limited to villages suffering water scarcity. The local government provides small funds for renovation work of FMIS,though allocation of funds is highly politicized. Nongovernment agencies, for a variety of reasons including donor-funding cycles, apply a one-size-fitsall ‘participatory' model in an attempt to socially engineer rules and institutions. In communities divided by factionalism the use of such external models that stress formation of committees are unlikely to yield positive results, and could instead contribute to undermining the very systems they seek to support. This research argues that irrigation interventions should take care to build upon the rich and complex social arrangements that have sustained FMIS through the centuries.展开更多
Snow- and glacier-nourished river basins located in the Himalaya-Karakoram-Hindukush (HKH) ranges supply a significant amount of discharge in River Indus upstream Tarbela Dam. It is, hence, important to comprehend the...Snow- and glacier-nourished river basins located in the Himalaya-Karakoram-Hindukush (HKH) ranges supply a significant amount of discharge in River Indus upstream Tarbela Dam. It is, hence, important to comprehend the cryosphere variation and its relationship to the stream flow in these high-altitude river catchments. The MODIS remotely sensed database of snow products was chosen to examine the average annual snow and glacier cover (cryosphere) variations in the Shigar River basin (poorly gauged mountainous sub-catchment of the Indus River). Hydrological regime in the area was investigated through monthly database of observed stream fluxes and climate variables (precipitation and mean temperature) for the Shigar River catchment. Analysis indicated the usefulness of remote sensing techniques for estimation of the snow cover variation in the poorly or un-gauged high-elevation catchments of the HKH zone. Results also showed that Shigar River discharge was influenced mainly by the seasonal and annual snow cover area (SCA) variation and the temperature seasonality. Moreover, it is important to uncover such inter-relationship of stream flow, climate variables and snow cover in the poorly gauged high-altitude catchments of Karakoram region for better water resource management and accurate flood hazards predictions at Tarbela.展开更多
文摘The current study attempted to evaluate the water quality in terms of physico-chemical properties, metals, and bacteriological characteristics of the surface water available in Shigar Valley located along Shigar River in sub-district Shigar of district Skardu, Gilgit Baltistan (GB), Pakistan. A total of 17 water samples were collected during 2020 and analysed to perform multivariate analysis through principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA). Spatial distribution using inverse distance weight (IDW) interpolation was also utilised to determine the water quality in the valley to elucidate public health concerns. The study reveals that physico-chemical characteristics are the most important that affect water quality, followed by metals and bacteriological variables, according to a PCA application based on multivariate analysis. Examinations found that some of the metals including arsenic (As), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and molybdenum (Mo) and all bacteriological parameters enlisting total coliform count (TCC), total faecal coliform (TFC), and total faecal streptococci (TFS) are not following the WHO guidelines that could be hazardous from the public health viewpoint. The IDW-based spatial distribution indicates that water samples have an intermittent and unusual distribution of observed parameters. Having considerable community settlements, people in the valley have limited options and have no choice except to consume the available water as no alternate source is available. People hardly question the water quality and rarely examine the water potability. The study also demonstrated that combining PCA with IDW would be a powerful method for assessing water quality. It is suggested that the sources of contamination be investigated further in detail to reduce the pollution load of the surface water in the valley, which could aid in the development of sustainable ecotourism.
基金funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany
文摘Farmer-managed irrigation systems(FMIS) in the high altitude valleys of the Karakorum,Pakistan, continue to be managed effectively despite increased pressure on the social arrangements that sustain them. Colonial era records shows that over a century ago government agencies undertook irrigation support projects. In the past three decades,government agencies and the non-government agency Aga Khan Rural Support Programme(AKRSP), which channels foreign funds into the region, have actively engaged in the provision of irrigation support. This article seeks to explore whether such projects support or undermine farmer-managed irrigation systems and the complex institutional arrangements that underpin them. Field research using ethnographic and participatory methods was conducted in spring 2013 in the upper Shigar valley, Skardu district, GilgitBaltistan. The findings show that irrigation development is a political activity that involves village-based actors, religious leaders, local politicians,and government and non-government agencies.Government agencies operate in a largely top-down,engineering mode, their larger projects limited to villages suffering water scarcity. The local government provides small funds for renovation work of FMIS,though allocation of funds is highly politicized. Nongovernment agencies, for a variety of reasons including donor-funding cycles, apply a one-size-fitsall ‘participatory' model in an attempt to socially engineer rules and institutions. In communities divided by factionalism the use of such external models that stress formation of committees are unlikely to yield positive results, and could instead contribute to undermining the very systems they seek to support. This research argues that irrigation interventions should take care to build upon the rich and complex social arrangements that have sustained FMIS through the centuries.
文摘Snow- and glacier-nourished river basins located in the Himalaya-Karakoram-Hindukush (HKH) ranges supply a significant amount of discharge in River Indus upstream Tarbela Dam. It is, hence, important to comprehend the cryosphere variation and its relationship to the stream flow in these high-altitude river catchments. The MODIS remotely sensed database of snow products was chosen to examine the average annual snow and glacier cover (cryosphere) variations in the Shigar River basin (poorly gauged mountainous sub-catchment of the Indus River). Hydrological regime in the area was investigated through monthly database of observed stream fluxes and climate variables (precipitation and mean temperature) for the Shigar River catchment. Analysis indicated the usefulness of remote sensing techniques for estimation of the snow cover variation in the poorly or un-gauged high-elevation catchments of the HKH zone. Results also showed that Shigar River discharge was influenced mainly by the seasonal and annual snow cover area (SCA) variation and the temperature seasonality. Moreover, it is important to uncover such inter-relationship of stream flow, climate variables and snow cover in the poorly gauged high-altitude catchments of Karakoram region for better water resource management and accurate flood hazards predictions at Tarbela.
