DAMN ! NO DAMS

The service road of Shamsabad automobile market is flooded with the water from the main line everyday. This water starts leaking from one end; spreads and reach to this other extreme at the belt of this pamphlet hung out of the bank saying, “Supreme Court Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand Dam Funds are accepted here”.

145 MAF of water is flowing across the shores of indus basin every year. Out of which 12MAF is used for domestic usage, 18MAF for industrial needs and 104 MAF for irrigation. Everything is normal? Cool. But 77MAF out of 104 is lost. 74 % of the irrigation and collectively 53% of the whole is going total waste !!
In Pakistan dams are built for two major purposes : first , They act as a buffer in supply demand variability. Secondly, it is believed that hydro energy is the cheapest source of generating electricity.

Both of these purposes seems to be interpreted wrongly in front of the people. Because the coefficient of supply to demand variability is just 0.3. Secondly the biggest dilemma and emotional blackmail of Pakistan: Bhasha dam, That costs 14B $. With 14B $ it is claiming to produce 4500 MW of electricity which can easily be generated by solar voltaic cells unit at the amazing cost of 2.7B $ only.
Are we so much week in our financial IQ that we are unable to opt out between a dam and prosperity? Are we so much illiterate that we want to save this 145 MAF of running water with 6 MAF of capacities? Greatest of ironies ! Isn’t it?

I remember my elementries when Mam Saima used to teach me the Water Cycle. All of us have been taught that the vapors they evaporate, become cloud, they rain and somewhere it snows. Some go into rivers and the remaining soaks into the soil. Then from rivers into the seas and then again evaporate. And then again and again. We were never taught that in this whole cycle there are some DAMS that are busy making new water. NO! The proportion of water is exactly the same as what it was when the earth came into being. The water is not increasing nor decreasing. So, what’s the fault?

It is us who disturbed the nature; twicely. First by overpopulating the land and Then capturing the water into some far off geographical location, living in illusion that we have increased its quantity. Where the fact is: when it increases at one place, It is deficient at the other.

The problem is not water scarcity but the water mismanagement. Dams can’t protect us from the water losses on shamsabad service road. Similarly from the fields, canals, industries and everywhere. We need to understand that dam can’t save the water from the tap the we left open while we were brushing our teeth today.

And at the last for your gaze, Our neighbour is converting the sea water into drinkable water by using Osmosis techniques at the cost of 1 paisa per litre. And Have you ever heard about the