ISLAMABAD, Feb 13: Cholistan desert is in a grip of severe water crisis and most of its over 100,000 population has started migrating to other parts of Sindh.

The data was provided to Dawn by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) which has drawn a very scary picture of the overall water situation in Cholistan. It has warned of mass human and livestock migration from the area due to unavailability of the required quantity of water.

According to the council, the annual rainfall in the area is as low as 100 to 200 millimetres (mm). Drinking water is available to people and livestock for only three to four months of the year, while the ratio of brackish water has touched the alarming figure of 2,000 to 3,000 parts per million (ppm).

The annual water requirement of about 100,000 people and 200,000 livestock of Cholistan is about 7.6 billion litres. The average temperature in Cholistan, which is spread over 2.6 million hectares (Mha), is about 35 centigrade.

The PCRWR officials told Dawn that in 2001 they had started a Rs152.2 million four-year water supply project to provide water to Cholistan desert and prevent migration from the desert.

The project, they said, would soon be completed after which 7.7 billion litres of water would be provided to the area through various sources included rainwater, turbine and reserve osmosis.

Under the project 70 ponds have been constructed. Similarly, 20 tubewells and a desalinisation plant have also been installed. The capacity of turbine, they said, was 450 gallons per minute. The quality of water, they said, was also good as it contained less than 1,500ppm.

About the introduction of desalination plant, they said, through it saline water, containing 4,000ppm, was treated after which the ppm level in water remained only 200 to 250. The plant had the capacity to treat 26,000 litres of water within eight hours while the cost per litre of treated water was as low as Rs0.09.

Through the project, they said, migration of people and livestock from the area had been reduced to a greater level. The project had also contributed to preventing an annual loss of Rs200 million.