ISLAMABAD: The Tarbela and Mangla dams are estimated to reach their dead level in the next two months if dry weather persists, as the water level in both the dams has dropped to 1.3 million acre hectare feet. According to sources in the Water and Power Ministry, if the rainy season does not start by February, water in dams will reach their dead level due to severe scarcity of rains.
They said that water table beneath the earth was also plunging down with a great pace, and cultivation of crops in the months of March and April could also be affected by virtue of acute shortage of water in the country. Experts have also expressed fear that the country may face severe type of water disaster in the absence of new dams. Due to increasing global warming, it is anticipated that the glaciers will melt down in next two decades, and if the glaciers situated at north of Pakistan – a main source of Indus River – melts down, problem for the country will reach the point of no return.
They said that instead of spending billion of rupees, including foreign grants, for reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure and rehabilitation of affected people due to floods in Pakistan almost every five years or so, the government should build big dams to cut down the potential threat of flooding.
According to the Indus River System Authority (IRSA), some 1.2 MAF of water was wasted last year due to shortage of major reservoirs. An official in the ministry, seeking anonymity, said that whenever any meeting is held to formulate water policy, a petty issue is turned into a giant question and the meeting is postponed. “As a matter of fact, the bureaucracy is the main hurdle in it,” he said. “As the population of the country is constantly rising and the water crisis is deepening with the passage of every single day, the rulers of the country are yet to formulate any water policy,” he regretted.