BAHAWALPUR: The sizzling heat, which has been gripping the Cholistan desert for the previous one month, has caused an acute water shortage for the desert areas residents and their livestock, as around one-third of the water ponds in the area have gone dry.

Dawn has learnt that around one-third of the 2,000 open ponds, locally called ‘toba’, which are the main source of drinking water, besides very few water supply lines in some of the desert areas, for the locals and their livestock, have dried up, causing an acute water shortage in Cholistan.

According to experts, during the hot months in the desert areas, the high water evaporation rate, caused bythe scorching sunlight and high temperatures, turns these open ponds dry.

According to local sources, these 2,000 open water ponds cater to water needs of around 0.3 million humans and their 1.5 million cattle heads.

CDA head claims efforts on to supply water to desert area residents

However, a number of tobas, including those at Chhoriwala, Kaliwala, Balochanwala, Nooriwala, Tootafan etc still have some quantity of drinking water, accumulating after last month’s rain in the region, they say.

They say that the acute water shortage is forcing many of the Cholistan residents, who were dependent on these dried up ponds, to migrate from their native settlements to green areas, along with their livestock, in search of water and fodder.

Due to this massive migration, many abandoned settlements, mostly comprising straw-and-mud houses, look like haunted places.

The local sources say that a large number of Cholistani people have already gone to different cities to to sell their sacrificial animals.

They say that the potable water being supplied in some of the select areas in the desert through the underground waterlines network laid by the Cholistan Development Authority (CDA), Bahawalpur, is inadequate for the human, as well cattle populations.

They say that the residents of some of the areas covered by the CDA network also complain that the underground waterlines are not properly functioning because of leakages at some places, hindering the smooth supply of drinking water to the designated points.

Besides, the CDA also operates bowzers,given by the Punjab government last year, to supply drinking water to the desert areas in need.

CDA Managing Director Shahid Hassan Kalyani says that the authority is supplying drinking water to the Cholistani people through its underground waterline network, besides operating bowzers in case of an urgent need for water supply to remote desert areas.

He admitts that the residents in some of the desert areas are facing water shortage due to the prevailing hot spell, resulting in high temperatures, adding that the CDA is taking measures to ease the situation.

He, however, says the drying up of water ponds in the severely hot months is a natural phenomena in Cholistan and its residents have been facing it for centuries and these seasonal migrations are a routine for them.

He says that with the advent of rainy season, these ponds will get filled up again and the residents will return to their native places, along with their livestock, as per their routine.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2026