Pollution

Suspended Material and turbidity has also been an issue especially following high released events in the Indus River. There have been some material that has been washed from the catchment and into the streams flowing into the storages. Some of the land uses such as agriculture and land clearing can also lead to increased loads of sediments and suspended materials such as silt, clay and other fine particles which could be both organic and inorganic and would be entering the storages. Because water storages are very effective at trapping and holding sediments there have been loads of suspended sediments and turbidity that can quickly change.

Pollution in the Indus River has also caused a threat to the Indus River Dolphin, many of the Indus River dolphin's have died from pollution in the Indus River. It started when construction of numerous dams and barrages were build in the 1930's and also split the population into small groups and degraded the habitat and impeded migration. It's not just the construction of dams and barrages that have put a threat to the Indus River Dolphin, there have been accidental capture's in fishing nets and hunting for meat, oil and traditional medicine which have had an impact to the river and has caused a threat to the dolphin's.

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Environment

Lately, there has been a threat to the Indus River mangroves. The mangroves in this area have been cut for fuel wood which has been used for the major source of firewood for around 10 000 people who live in the area. It is said that the seasonal fishers are now living in the mangrove forests and they are to cut and clear the forests while they set up camps. Although this area has been degraded and probably more than 85 percent of the habitat has been lost there is still several patches of intact habitat that still exist in the area. There are three protected areas that cover about 820 square kilometres of the region but these protected areas are still corrupted. The Indus river mangroves are now even less assorted, they are being composed of almost exact stands of Avicenna marina which are species that are highly resistant to high salinity levels and are capable of surviving the region's extreme conditions. 

    The mangroves in the Indus River Delta was listed as the world’s sixth largest contiguous mangrove area until recently the mangroves of the Indus River Delta had been infected with a mosquito infected wasteland and now there is no particular value. Some studies have shown that 60 to 80 percent of the world’s business fisheries catch are mangrove dependent species and the Indus River is considered as a coastal zone of very high economic and bio-ecological value which means that it is the main fish and shrimp nursery on which Pakistan’s fishing industry depends. The Indus River has had a lack of freshwater which has badly affected the mangroves. Researches say that the Indus River mangrove forests were spread over 186 000 hectares in 1966 and were reduced to 57 000 hectares by 1998.

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