PAKISTAN is plagued by a delayed monsoon, drought and now a heat wave. Meanwhile, the debate on dams, reservoirs and development of water resources continues. It would have been amusing had the issue not been such a serious one. I am amazed how the social media, politicians and news anchors make sweeping statements on this important national issue with little or no knowledge on the subject. Creating reservoirs and building dams is not as simple as raising walls on the run of a river.

It is disheartening to see a God-gifted country in water resources like ours, suffering because of politics and mistrust amongst the provinces. We have been stuck on Kalabagh dam for the last 30 years. Whereas some of the points presented by the KPK on the issue are legitimate. I must say that the issue could have been resolved if the geographic location of the dam had been changed and had Punjab been compromising on the issue. All the same, credit should be given to the PTI government for completing small reservoir projects in KPK. However, a great deal more needs to be done.

Being a student of hydrology and hydraulics at Colorado State University (the home of Tarbela Dam project and one of the best institutes for hydraulics and hydrology in the world) and having just taken a trip up north to Montana via Wyoming, I came across at least 15 reservoirs most of them being offshore storages, i.e, having diverted the water through big conduits into a reservoir in the mountains. Similar storages can also be built in southern Punjab and Sindh. I wish that people at the helm of affairs get some sense and look into the many possibilities of developing water resources in Pakistan especially off-shore storage. I am to return to Pakistan next year and hopefully I will do my bit to contribute toward this sector of our country’s development.

afey Siddiqui

Colorado, USA

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2015

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