Your Smartphone May Be Poisoning the Indus faster than climate change.
Your smartphone may be poisoning the Indus faster than climate change. When Pakistan discusses water security, the main topics of discussion are dam construction, glacial melt, and transboundary river treaties. However, there's a quieter, quicker threat to the Indus River from an odd source: discarded smartphones. Polluted stretch of the Indus River showing waste dumping According to Pakistan's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Pakistan generates over 100,000 metric tons of electronic waste (e-waste) annually . The rest end up in open landfills, roadside sewers, and informal recycling yards in Lahore, Karachi, Gujranwala, and Faisalabad. From there, heavy metals—lead, mercury, cadmium, and lithium—leach into groundwater and canals that feed the Indus River basin. Two Threats, Different Timelines Climate change is a long-term threat to the Indus River basin that would cripple agriculture and hydropower due to reduced summer flow. E-waste, however, is an ...