Pakistan’s water resources have been rapidly shrinking due to various reasons. They are getting insufficient to meet the needs of an exploding population, and to sustain the agriculture. Drought has compounded the situation. Siltation has reduced the capacity of major reservoirs.

The quality and quantity of the underground water has also been affected. The scarcity has forced the farmers to pump the water out for irrigating their crops. Lack of rains has disallowed the normal recharging of the aquifer. Dry seasons have also been in the way of improving the underground resources.

This is a grim scenario that can cause a famine like situation in coming years. The country had managed to produce bumper wheat crops in the last three years, but that was the bounty of nature, plus the hard work of the farming community. Farmers can be relied on for delivering more than their share and one can always hope that nature would continue to be sympathetic, but this should not take the attention away from the need to increase the resources and preserve whatever is available.

The government seems to be aware of the issue and is trying to build reservoirs but a significant breakthrough cannot be made unless a political will is asserted. Unfortunately, that has not happened. Successive governments have shirked their responsibilities by hiding behind the argument of national consensus. That is essential but an agreement between the diverse viewpoints would remain elusive without undertaking a determined and consistent effort. That has not been done so far.

The government’s efforts have in fact made water muddier. Taking up the Kalabagh Dam without a clearly prepared game plan has made Pakistan’s only, fully-investigated and finalized water project more controversial than it originally was. It has again been in the news and in a way when more damage could be done than has been. One wishes the government works on it quietly instead of politicians and officials using it as a prop for showing their sincerity on building reservoirs.

The Basha Dam has also been mentioned in dispatches but there are many questions to it and these concern not merely technical feasibility. This reservoir also has the same potential for generating controversy and disagreement that has haunted the Kalabagh. Indeed it is desirable that studies on the project are undertaken only after tying the political ends. Otherwise, it may also represent, like the Kalabagh Dam, huge amounts spent on investigations, while vital political aspects were left unattended and prove another fruitless exercise and a drain on financial resources.

The Basha Dam has been included in Wapda’s Vision 2025. One wishes it is tackled differently and political issues are taken up at an early stage instead of waiting till other pieces have fallen in place. But many other projects in the Vision 2025 are a positive response to water needs of the country. The fact that they are being pursued and implemented as per schedule is gratifying.

They should contribute significantly in ensuring against a further dwindling of resources in this vital sector.

The existing reservoir’s capacity has been scuttled by silt. Mangla, Tarbela and Chashma had an aggregate design gross storage of 17.98 MAF. That had come down to 13.56 MAF by 2000, and is estimated to further drop to 12.19 MAF by 2010. The available supplies are obviously drying up. The loss in reservoirs thus totals up to about 5.80 MAF by the end of the first decade of the present century. For an agriculture-based economy, this is a serious constraint and a frightening prospect.

Wapda, responsible for developing the water resources has chalked out plans for meeting the shortages, but major projects cannot be undertaken without the approval from the highest level and backed by all the provinces. That support has been woefully lacking.

The organization consequently worked on projects that could be taken up without generating political heat and came up with a plan titled Vision 2025 comprising short and long-term projects. They are aimed at creating storage facility for about 5.74 MAF by 2008. However, most projects are scheduled for completion by 2006. Which means that the impact of siltation would be offset.

The most important undertaking is raising the Mangla Dam by 40 feet and adding 3.10 MAF to its storage capacity. It would add 180 MW to the existing energy output of the dam also. There is no way of desilting Mangla or, for that matter, any other reservoir. Raising the height has been resorted to as the last option. The project is to be completed by end 2007.

Other undertakings make comparatively smaller contribution to the country’s water resources but that is a welcome development and indicates that the saying about drops making a river has been kept in view. The drops of water Wapda is collecting do not produce another Indus but they add up to more than a rivulet.

The Gomal Zam Dam (completion 2006) would store 1.14 MAF water, while the Kurram Tangi Project — both located in the NWFP would be good for 1.20 MAF. Other projects are even smaller. Mirani and Sabakzai Dams, both in Balochistan count for 0.30 MAF and 0.02 respectively; they are virtually drops of water.

The Satpara Multipurpose Dam in Skardu, Baltistan would have a capacity for 0.08 MAF. All these projects are to be completed by 2006. Work on them suggests on time implementation.

In Addition, there are flood irrigation projects in Punjab (Greater Thal Canal), Sindh (Rainee Canal) and Kachhi Canal in Balochistan that are planned for serving about 2.5 million acres of land.

All these projects would help the country tide over water shortages and one hopes that positive weather conditions would sustain the crops and recharge the underground resources. The importance of these efforts is not to be minimized but needless to say that if the government wants to ensure that the clouds of famine do not turn dark, thick and burst, it must think of a reservoir that would underwrite the country’s water requirements for at least a few decades.