ISLAMABAD – Water is our best friend and also our worst enemy,” muses AllahDino as he sits by his well.
“For most of the year, we are in a state of drought. Our fields are dry andour cattle struggle to survive. We wait patiently for the rainy season tobring us water in the *nullah* (hill torrent). Some years the water ishelpful and brings bloom and bounty to the village, other years it isdestructive and floods our villages, drowns our cattle and breaks ourwells.linkWepray each year that God sends us the right amount of water.”
This, to Allah Dino, a resident of a small village in Jamshoro district ofSindh, Pakistan, is ‘climate change.’
The province of Sindh includes some of the most drought-prone areas ofPakistan, having suffered three major droughts from 1999 to 2015.link2013, Sindh has witnessed severe and constant droughtlinkinthe desert areas of Nara, Achhro Thar and Thar, Kohistan and the Kachhoregion.
The communities of Jamshoro in Sindh, a historically water-stressedprovince of Pakistan, parts of which fall in the Kohistan desert region,are highly vulnerable to changing rainfall patterns.link
A drought hazard risk assessmentlinkthe population of Jamshoro district as ‘very vulnerable’ to drought in2015. Lastyear, rainfall received in the monsoon season was 69.5 percent belowaverage in Sindh, and Jamshoro is one of the eight districts in Sindh whichsuffered moderate to severe drought conditions.link
The survival of Allah Dino’s household and thousands of others like him isdependent on small scale arid farming and livestock rearing. To sustaintheir livelihoods, the communities anxiously wait for annual monsoonshowers to replenish the meager yet precious freshwater sources in theregion.link
Image[image: Newly constructed Konkar Dam in Sindh Province, Pakistan]Newly constructed Konkar Dam in Sindh Province, Pakistan
“Some years the water is helpful and brings bloom and bounty to thevillage, other years it is destructive and floods our villages, drowns ourcattle and breaks our wells.”
But this bounty is as short-lived as the rains, with the bulk of therainwater swiftly running off through barren slopes of the region.
As a result, these remote and marginalized communities are exposed topersistent water security challenges throughout the year.
“This year seems different, and I am sure it is because of the dam,” saysAllah Dino, gesturing to the newly constructed Konkar Dam behind him.
This small recharge dam, with a height of six meters and pondage capacityof 40,000 cubic meters, has been constructed by the Government of Sindh,with financial assistance from the World Banklinkunderthe Sindh Resilience Projectlink.
The dam wall was completed just in time for the monsoon rains this year,raising groundwater levels in the adjoining areas by 100 feet. Such robustreplenishment of the wells during monsoon season protects freshwatersupplies of remote communities and their livestock for the rest of theyear.link
The Sindh Resilience Project aims to mitigate drought risks in vulnerableareas of Sindh. The small dam investments are a critical intervention fordrought mitigation in the province, a calamity that frequently hits themost marginalized communities in the province resulting in extremesocio-economic hardships.link
These significant social impacts affect children especiallylink. During the extended drought in Sindh of 2014-17, more than 1,000 childrendied and 22,000 were hospitalized with drought-related diseases in theTharparkar District.link
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Image[image: The local community residing around Konkar Dam]The local community residing around Konkar Dam
About 20 small groundwater recharge dams, similar to the one in Konkar, arebeing constructed under the project to improve water security across someof the most barren and desolate regions of the provincelink,which suffer from chronic droughts and extreme poverty.
These regions are at quite a distance from the Indus river, which is thelifeline of irrigated agriculture in the province. The dams are expected toimprove water security through groundwater recharge for an estimated areaof 10,000 hectares, which supports almost 100,000 people who exclusivelyrely on freshwater aquifers for sustenance.
The participation of local communities is crucial as, with increased wateravailability, there is a risk of exponentially higher water use andover-extraction of groundwater.link
The introduction of solar-powered tube wells and water-intensive crops suchas cotton can bring short term prosperity to the local communities, butleave them in a worsened state in the longer term.
Aware of this risk, the Sindh Resilience Project is going beyond theconstruction of dams to put in place procedures to monitor and maximize theuse of recharged groundwater.link
These small dams are already creating a big impact for the marginalized andvulnerable communities by sustaining the freshwater bounty of monsoonseason in the arid yet fertile wilderness of Sindh.
Currently, a study is underway to map the current crop patterns, irrigationand water practices of communities living around the dams constructed bythe project.
On the basis of this study, the project will be working with thecommunities to introduce sustainable water usage and agricultural practicesto make a Small Dam into a Smart Dam.link
Encouraged by the swift and positive impacts of the small dam investmentsfor local communities, the Government of Sindh is now looking to scale upand expand such infrastructure to other parts of the province.
These small dams are already creating a big impact for the marginalized andvulnerable communities by sustaining the freshwater bounty of monsoonseason in the arid yet fertile wilderness of Sindh.link
Allah Dino is excited as he gives a tour of his fruit orchards.
“Look at the health of the trees and the fruit that is coming. It seems Iam going to have a bumper crop and profit after years,” he says. “It’sbecause there has been enough water in my well to water my orchards withthe right amount of water at the right time.”
