Build a dam
in Pakistan

Remember the horrible drought in Sindh, Baluchistan and Afghanistan last year? It killed thousands of men, women and children, especially farmers and nomads. Livestock, a farmer's bread and butter, died and natural resources were also lost because of the drought.

The drought, though, could have been avoided if Pakistan had spent more resources on building dams in the country.

A dam is an artificial barrier that is usually built across a stream channel to stop the flow of water. Dams help irrigate farmland, which is especially important in times of drought, prevent flooding and generate electricity. Without dams, modern life as we know it would simply not be the same. In the United States, dams also serve these important functions.

Building a dam is a better way to deal with devastating droughts than sending relief after the fact, as many countries did during last year's drought.

You can support dam building projects in Pakistan by contacting an organization with such a project in place. The average cost of building a dam there is about $70,000. It's not much compared to other relief projects, but it goes a long way in helping Pakistanis, especially those in rural areas.

The Human Development Foundation has built, in collaboration with locals, a dam in Shahbzai, Baluchistan which stores up to 265 million gallons of water and serves the irrigation and water needs of 50 villages. The total cost for this project was $35,000, which is one-eighth the cost of a similar dam built by the government of Baluchistan.

Dams will also be important as Pakistan's food production crisis worsens. According to the Global Water Partnership, Pakistan will be facing a shortfall of 11 million tons of production of all major food crops by 2010 and 16 million tons by 2020 which would force the government to import edible oils, wheat and other major food grains. Dams and the irrigation will go a long way in helping avert this crisis.

When deciding which dam project to support, it's important to choose an organization or group that takes the negative ecological effects of dams seriously, and tries to avoid them.

For example, there has been controversy in Pakistan about the Kalabagh dam on the Indus River. Environmental groups argue that building the proposed dam will result in degrading agricultural productivity in the Indus Basin and destroy nearby forests, fisheries, and the Indus Delta. Other, political issues also cloud the building of the dam in controversy.

Another thing to consider when deciding which dam project to support is the issue of how residents in the proposed area for the dam are taken care of. In other words, how will the population living in the vicinity of the proposed dam be resettled? You need to find out what is being done about this, is the community in agreement with the project and the resettlement, are they being provided with an alternative location that is safe, etc.

One example of an indigenous dam building project can be found on the Khar river dam, where farmers are building the structure with the help of a non-governmental organization. According to a 1999 news report in the Pakistani daily newspaper Dawn, the dam was being constructed by the Kissan Committee. This is a voluntary organization of the local farmers, and the Society for Conservation and Protection of Environment (SCOPE) to recharge the subsoil aquifer so that the water table in the wells of the Khar valley could be raised.

Building a dam is something that will benefit hundreds, if not thousands of Pakistanis, helping them avoid the tragedy of drought, flooding and food shortages in the years to come.

More information about dams at:
http://www.hydro.com.au/education/buildadam/

Date/Time Last Modified: 6/17/2002 3:47:41 PM

Readers' Comment

ali imran qazi: 4/10/2006 1:01:34 AM
this is been very good step taken by you to promote the conutry,s values in such a way. i always beleive that a educated society can contribute more to country,s progress than an illetrate one. so our basic priorty must be to educate our society. this must be out optimum duty as human being also as a patriot. we should lead from the front to take that responsibility. we should educate ourselves first and then spread this knowledge to others. Dams are certainly essential at this particular time but the thing is a majurity of peolpe dont know its real importrance, which is only due to lack of knowledge and wrong or false knowledge. so we should realize the importance of it without considering our domestic dispute , should unite for the sake of our country. May Allah show us the right path. regards, ali imran qazi

Asif: 4/10/2006 6:17:41 AM
No doubt Pakistan needs some small, medium and large dam for its water resources, but the fact is history tells us that our big brother punjab had a such practice that all the small provinces of Pakistan do not rely on it. First establishment or federal should make the measurs to establish the confidence between provinces and than decide to construct the dam. 56 years is long time to evaluate the attitude and behaviour of Punjab thanks Asif

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