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Int J Front Sci Water: The Elixir of Life Review Article The International Journal of Frontier Sciences Water: The Elixir of Life Muhammad Aslamkhan1,2* This article is open access under terms of Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is cited properly. 6. Editor-in-Chief Submitted: November 10, 2018 7. Health Research Division, Sundas Foundation Lahore, Accepted: December 25, 2018 Pakistan Published Online: January 1, 2019 *Correspondence: [email protected] doi: 10.5281/zenodo.2539510 How to cite this: Aslamkhan, A. 2019. Water: The Elixir of Life. Int J Front Sci, 3(1), 64-72. Water is a chemical compound made up of floats in water. This phenomenon is very two elements, Hydrogen gas, which is important for the survival of aquatic life in a combustible and Oxygen gas, which causes frozen lake where the ice, instead of sinking, to burn. But the union of two atoms of floats on the surface and act as a barrier for Hydrogen and one atom of Oxygen results in the aquatic life below, which overwinter the a colourless and odourless liquid, known as harsh cold season. water, which extinguish fire. Water, under normal climatic environment, On this planet earth water is one of the most occurs as liquid, which makes it a suitable plentiful compound that exist as solid, liquid habitat for millions of plants and animal life, and gaseous state. In nature it also occurs as as well as a mode of transportation for living snow, ice packs, icebergs, glaciers, fog, dew, organism. During hot weather it readily clouds, aquifers and atmospheric humidity, changes to vapours, rises up and moves in the but on room temperature it is liquid that has atmosphere from place to place as cloud. On the property to dissolve many other condensation it falls as rain. This is known as substances, which makes it a universal hydrologic cycle that is so vital for the solvent. Water is essential to all micro and nourishment of the living being on earth. macro living beings, whether plants or Water has played a pivotal role in the animals. Life, it is believed, originated in religious and philosophical cultures of aqueous solution. In human beings, water mankind. It was regarded as the building constitutes circa 60% of the body fluids and block of matter by the Greeks in the 6th is essential for all biological processes, e.g., century BCE. Aristotle, in the 4th century aqueous solution of blood and digestive BCE, named water along with air, fire and juices. Though its molecule - H O - is simple 2 earth as the main elements. This notion in structure but its physical and chemical persisted up to second half of the 18th century properties are quite complicated and unique, CE, when it was found that water is a not found in other substances in our compound of two elements – Hydrogen and environment, e.g., solid state of a compound Oxygen. is denser than its liquid state that sink, yet ice 64 Volume 3 (Issue 1) Int J Front Sci Water: The Elixir of Life Review Article On earth 96.5% water is present in oceans Chinese as Sintow. The Arians called it and seas, which is brackish containing large Sindhu in the Indo-European language – amount of various salts, thus cannot be used Sanskrit. for human consumption. Of the remaining, According to the Rig Veda, Arians found 7 only 1.7 % is freshwater while 1.7 % water is rivers flowing in the land, uniting together as present in the form of snow and ice on polar Sapt-Nad. They named the conquered area as caps and glaciers. In the form of clouds in the “Sapta-Sindhvas”- the Land of Seven Rivers air it is only 0.001% and lakes, ponds and - which is mentioned as “Hapta Hendu” in rivers contain 0.3% fresh-water, which is the ancient Persian literature of Zend Avesta; and main source of potable and useable water for the people inhabiting the western plains of human consumption and agriculture. Very the river were called as Sindhu (or Hindu). small amount (0.003%) of the Earth's The Sapta-Sindhvas region, as given in the freshwater is contained within biological Rig Veda, stretched from Gandhara to bodies. A great quantity of water, which is Kurukshetra. Sapta Sindhvas contained the hard to estimate, is found in the earth's Sindhu Nadi in the west, flowing from north interior. to southwest, followed next by the six rivers: Vitasta (Jhelum), Asikni (Chenab), Parusni STATUS OF WATER IN PAKISTAN: (Ravi), Vipasa (Beas), Sutudri (Sutlej) and Pakistan is the new name of a very ancient Sarasvati (Sarspti). These seven rivers and land in the north-west of the Indian sub- their tributaries formed what is known as the continent. It is watered by circa 43 rivers and Indus River System. Let us explore the seven their large and small tributaries rivers, 32 rivers of Sapta Sindhvas Land: lakes and 3 coastal regions. Earliest migrants/invaders from the west traversing 1. Sindhu Nadi (The Indus River): difficult mountain passes and glaciers Sindhu Nadi, or Abasin, is not only the main stopped at the bank of a mighty river, which river of Sapta Sindhvas but also a major river they named “Sin” to honour their Roman- in South Asia. Originating in the Chinese Greek goddess of water and respectfully Tibetan Plateau, in the vicinity of called it as “Aba-Sin” or Father Sin. Who Mansarover Lake, Indus flows through were those people? Were those the same Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir towards Gilgit- people who named the river in southwest of Baltistan, then it flows in a southerly Europe as “Seine” in reverence of their direction along the entire length of Khyber Roman goddess of water? Be as it may, but Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh, and empties archaeologists, anthropologists and linguists itself into the Arabian Sea near Karachi, after tell us the invasion and influx of Arians (1800 covering a distance of 3180 km. The river has BCE to 500 CE) from the Central Asia. a total area of drainage exceeding 1,165,000 Arians annihilated the aborigines, stopped at sq km. Its estimated annual flow stands at the mighty river, which was known to the circa 207 cu km; thus, in terms of annual Assyrians, as early as 7th century BCE, as flow, makes it the 21st largest river in the Sinda, to the ancient Persian, in Zend Avasta, world. Indus has 10 major tributaries on the as Hendu, to the Greek as Indos and to the 65 Volume 3 (Issue 1) Int J Front Sci Water: The Elixir of Life Review Article left bank and 5 on the right, which are as The Gilgit River, a right bank tributary of follows: Indus, starts from Shandur Lake (3,700 m) and runs eastwards through beautiful Phander The Zanskar River is the first left-bank Valley where it forms Phander Lake. Passing tributary, which has two main sources in the the town of Chassi it enters Ghizer Valley and upper reaches of Himalayas. The Doda River known as Ghizer River. Further eastwards it and Lungnak River, the last also has two passes the town of Gilgit. The 240 km long tributaries, Kargyag River and Tasarap River. Gilgit River joins the Indus River at Juglot, a These form the Zanskar River, which takes a town situated 45 km southeast of Gilgit on north-eastern course to joins the Indus River. the Karakorum Highway. It is located at the junction of three mightiest mountain ranges, The Shyok River originates from the Rino the Hindukush, the Karakorum and the Glacier, one of the tongues of the Siachen Himalayas. Glacier (76 km long), where it is called “The River of Death”. After spanning some The Kabul River is a 700-km long right 550 km it flows through Ladakh, India, and bank tributary of Indus that emerges in the the district of Ghangche of Gilgit-Baltistan. Sanglakh Range of the Hindu Kush The Shyok River receives the following 5 mountains in Afghanistan, where it passes tributaries. Chang Chen Mo River, Galwan through the cities of Kabul, Surobi and River, Nubra River, Saltoro River and Hushe Jalalabad before entering Pakistan. In Khyber River. Finally, the Shyok joins the Indus at Pakhtunkhwa, the river passes through the Keris, east of of Iskardu. cities of Peshawar, Charsadda and Noushera. The Kabul River has the following 7 major The Shigar River is formed from the melt tributaries all originating from the Hindu water of the Baltoro Glacier (63 km) one of Kush: Logar River (originates in Maidan the longest glacier outside the Poles. It flows Wardak Province where it is called Chak through the Shigar Valley and empties itself River); The Panjshir River (flows through into the Indus at Iskardu. the Panjshir Valley of Afghanistan. Its main tributary is the Ghorband River which joins it The Hunza River is formed by the 10 km east of Charikar. The Panjshir River Khunjerab gorge and flows south receiving flows southward through the Hindukash and water from Misgar River, Chepursan River, joins the Kabul River at the town of Sarobi. and Naltar River. The river cuts through the A dam was built on the Panjshir River near Karakorum Range, flowing from north to Surobi in the 1950s. Alingar River south along the Karakorum Highway and originates in Lamghan Province of eastern joins the Gilgit River before it flows into the Afghanistan. It joins the Kabul River a part Indus River. A landslide disaster in January of the Indus River Basin; The Surkhab 2010, completely blocked the Hunza River River rises in the district of Azra in the far and valley.