ISLAMABAD – The devastating flood events, faced by Pakistan continuouslyfor six years from 2010 to 2015, caused annually about 22.7 MAF water losswith 54.5 MAF during super flood 2010 and 36.3 MAF during year 2015. PostTarbela annual average of escapages below Kotri is 28.56 MAF.
These devastating flood events 2015 caused a huge loss to lives, cultivatedlands and other property of people of Pakistan along with wasting preciouswater into sea every year.
As per prediction, there would be excessive floods and droughts in futuredue to climate change and tackle this issue, Pakistan needs to takestructural measures (construction of dams) on war footing basis to storeflood water which will not only control damage but also help meet needsduring dry years (droughts) by providing stored water.
This will also help to manage energy crises by providing cheap electricityto the national grid. At present, Pakistan is again facing droughts causinglesser rainfall and reduced river inflows as an impact of climate change.
The drought has caused severe water shortages in the country and theestimated water shortage for irrigation supplies during current Rabi seasonis about 38 %. Sources at Water Resources Division while highlightingimpacts of climate change on shortage of water and steps being taken toensure and enhance water availability on Sunday said the government throughits executing agency WAPDA has completed Mangla Dam Raising (2.88 MAF),Gomal Zam Dam (0.892 MAF), Satpara Dam (0.053 MAF) and Darawat Dam (0.089MAF) to store water with a total storage capacity of 3.914 MAF.
Diamer Basha Dam (6.4 MAF), Mohmand (Munda) Dam (0.676 MAF), Kurram TangiDam (0.90 MAF) and Nai Gaj Dam (0.16 MAF) are at implementation stage.Moreover, projects having cumulative water storage capacity of 21.415 MAFare also at various stages of planning.
It has also been proposed that latest technology of sprinkling & dripirrigation should be used for irrigation to make economic use of preciouswater available in the country.
National Water Policy (NWP) has been approved which emphasizes watershedmanagement in the country. Watershed management is a dire need of time,especially in upper areas of the country like AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan andKhyber Pakhtunkhwa due to its multiple benefits.
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Forestation is an important component which not only controls sedimentinflows but also causes more precipitation in watershed which is veryuseful in lean season to avoid droughts by providing increased watershortage. Forestation also results into overall low atmospherictemperatures which will reduce snow and glaciers melting causing decreasein the probability of floods in high flow seasons.
The policy also states that environmental flows shall be ensured in riversto maintain a sound environment for conservation of river ecology,morphology, delta & coastal ecosystem and fisheries.
Ecology can preserve by several ways like conserving and improving oursurrounding environment, exploiting renewable energy sources, forestation,ensuring environmental flows in rivers, establishing pollution regulationpolicies, restoration of destroyed natural resources as well as habitats,protection of endangered species and creating awareness, education.
Similarly, delta can be preserved by smart reservoir operations andproviding sufficient water supplies regularly. For basin level management,the policy states that water demand shall be estimated for all sectors,within the Basin and outside the Basin.
The process of holistic approach to planning shall aim at accommodating afair and stable economic and social development within an integrateddrainage Basin management.
The policy also says that environmental impact assessment studies shall becarried out concurrently with project feasibility studies for selectingproject scope and layout, consistent with productivity, economic viability,social acceptability and environmental sustainability.
