Daily Times

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has approved, in principle, the financing plan for the Diamer-Bhasha dam and ordered the secretary of water and power to start physical work on the dam before the end of 2017. The 272-metre-high dam with the capacity to generate 4,500MW of electricity per day is predicted to meet water and electricity needs of the country to a large extent. Already, the looming water crisis in Pakistan deserves immediate attention of the quarters concerned. The present situation regarding the availability of water is bleak. Groundwater supplies are depleting at 16-55 centimetres (6-21 inches) a year, according to a study carried out by the International Waterlogging and Salinity Research Institute (IWASRI), a subsidiary of WAPDA. The study says that about 145 million acre feet of water flows through Pakistan each year, but the country’s existing storage capacity is only 14 million acre feet, meaning it can only store enough water to last 30 days. The international standard is 120 days. The water shortage is forcing many farmers in Punjab and some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to abandon cultivation due to the high fuel cost of watering their land. This is an alarming situation for Pakistan where more than 50 percent of the population is food insecure.

There are certain factors responsible for the crisis. After the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960 by Pakistan and India, rights over the eastern and western rivers were divided between the two countries. According to the treaty, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej were allocated to India. Similarly, Pakistan was given the western rivers, Jhelum, Chenab and Indus. Due to controversies over the building of the Kalabagh Dam on the River Indus, government has turned to the construction of the Bhasha-Diamer Dam, which too is not entirely free of disputes between upper and lower riparian provinces. Securing funding for such a big project as well as land acquisition issues are not easy tasks.

The looming water crisis is also a result of climate change that is responsible for the shrinking of glaciers of the Himalayas, the biggest reservoir of fresh water in the world. Faulty downstream management leads to further wastage. Though seepage replenishes the aquifer, it also reduces water availability. According to a UN report, Pakistan is fast approaching the critical threshold of a chronic water shortage. In 1947, the per capita availability of water was 5,660 cubic metres per person, which has now reduced to less than 1,000 cubic metres. Consequently, the problem is obvious, and the latest warning about water scarcity must be taken seriously.

In such a situation any step by government to ease water crisis can only be welcomed. It is a national cause, and everybody needs to support ventures like the construction of the Bhasha Dam. The production of electricity through hydel power is the most economical as well as a long lasting measure. Those who are being affected due to the construction of the project need to be compensated, and be provided a more suitable accommodation with provision of all assistance required to make the move satisfactory. Government should take the latest warning about water scarcity seriously, and start efforts for preserving water for our present and future needs.*