THIS is with reference to the letter ‘Dam not in distress’ (Aug 28) by the chief engineer of Quetta on the position of the Wali Tangi Dam in response to the letter ‘A dam in distress needs attention’ (Aug 23). The most important assertion made is that the dam was designed to provide agricultural water to the Urak area, and not to supply drinking water to the city of Quetta.

This is contrary to all statements to date, including the report, ‘Feasibility Study for the Improvement of Water Supply system to Quetta’, prepared by the consultants to the Balochistan government and the World Bank in October 2023 with the concurrence of all the stakeholders.

The division of 2.5 million gallons per day (MGD) of water from Wali Tangi Dam was always proposed as 50 per cent to cantonment and 50pc to civil authorities through Spin Karez. The stakeholders should decide what is the distribution of the available water, and what is the alternative if the city and the cantonment therein do not get anything from the dam.

As regards the technical issues, these are best decided through a review by a technical committee, becasue, completely regardless of the matter of water distri- bution, the safety is a matter of concern.

Iqbal Mirza Nazar
Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2024