WAPDA’s professional inability in Dam sites selection caused billions of Dollars loss in floods and load shedding besides water, power and food insecurity

WAPDA after creating 47 years (37+10) long status quo only to build Kalabagh Dam or no dam, has destroyed the country by floods and energy shortage. Kalabagh Dam has the poorest capacity inflow ratio in the world, and the rapid silting of reservoir because of wrong hydraulic design that has also limited the hydropower generation capability.

WAPDA is once again creating one more damaging status quo to permanently destroy irrigated agriculture in the Indus basin causing food insecurity besides water and hydropower insecurity. As a consequence of the long status quo for insisting to build Kalabagh Dam, under the policy “Kalabagh Dam or no dam”, about 22 per cent fertile area of Pakistan was destroyed by the 2010 floods. Moreover, It caused crippling load shedding that destroyed economy. Under the same policy, WAPDA is opposing the unique Katzarah Dam on flimsy grounds that Baltic culture in Skardu valley will be submerged. WAPDA did not carry out its technical feasibility.

WAPDA therefore misguided the Government of Pakistan about the feasibility of Kalabagh Dam that is politically controversial and technically infeasible for adopting wrong hydraulic design of restricted mid-level sluicing structure. The Kalabagh Project Consultants suggested unrestricted low-level silt sluicing hydraulic structure but WAPDA disagreed with the Kalabagh Project Consultants. Because of wrong hydraulic design, the power generation capability of KBD was reduced to 1250 MW. To make up this deficiency, WAPDA instructed the Project Consultants to install 2000 MW of Thermal Power Plant in support of poor generation of hydropower. WAPDA misguides to claim that KBD will generate 3450 MW of power.

 Still continuing the same policy “build Kalabagh Dam or no dam”, the unique and multipurpose 35-maf Katzarah Dam, the life-line of Pakistan is shelved by WAPDA on ridiculous grounds in spite of its unique technical merits and its dire need for irrigated agriculture to achieve water, power and food security. WAPDA misguides the Government on dams by sending wrong and exaggerated reports, ignoring huge feasible water storage dams and power generation urgently required to sustain irrigated agriculture and industry.  

Let the Government appoint foreign consultants to prepare the feasibility report of Katzarah Dam to know its marvelous merits. Only then decision may be made to build or not to build the unique and multipurpose Katzarah Dam. WAPDA reports are unreliable. Can WAPDA quote any mega storage dam in the world that has not submerged area? Take the case of Three Gorges Dam in China that displaced 2.2 million people. What about Kalabagh Dam? Will it not submerge Peshawar valley and other vast areas?

Katzarah Dam

WAPDA has written to the Ministry of Water and Power that it shelved the multipurpose Katzarah Dam on the basis over a dozen negative environmental impacts that made Katzarah Dam unfeasible. Exaggerating the environmental impacts, these are submergence of 13363 acres of land, 130,000 population, 20,000 houses, 7000 shops, hospitals, schools, graveyard, mosques, 40 Km road, airstrip, Shangrila Motel, and archaeological sites besides the Baltic culture. Contrary to this, WAPDA ignored technical merits and its unique benefits in case of Kalabagh Dam. WAPDA views are one sided, immature, and prejudicial. WAPDA failed to investigate the unique and multipurpose technical aspects of the dam that has marvelous merits of functioning as watershed management dam. WAPDA has shown dishonest and prejudice attitude that destroys the natural potentials of water and hydropower resources. At the same time, WAPDA quoted very strong views of the two committees appointed by the Government of Pakistan for dam site selection but these expert views were ignored by WAPDA.

Views of two committees on Katzarah Dam

“In a recent interview, former Chairman of Indus River System Authority (IRSA) Eng Fateh Ullah Khan Gandapur had termed the proposed dam the only way to resolve the current water and power crisis in the country. A bipartisan Parliamentary Committee led by former senator Nisar Memon and a Technical Committee led by A.N.G Abbasi—both having experts and parliamentarians from all provinces had unanimously called for the construction of Katzarah Dam as the top-most priority in 2005 to end political controversies over mega dams”.

WAPDA ignored the above views of the four provinces. WAPDA carried out incomplete, one sided, the so called pre-feasibility of Katzarah Dam in 2007 though it promised to Nisar Memon Committee to submit the technical aspect of the pre-feasibility report in September 2005. However, WAPDA ignored the technical side of Katzarah Dam simply “confirmed a potential to impound the average annual flow of Indus at 27 maf”. Surprisingly, WAPDA ignored the two dozens technical merits of Katzarah dam. It only pointed out one aspect of the submergence of houses, shops, graveyards, hospitals, schools, mosques, road, Shangrila Motel, archaeological sites consisting of mosques and graveyard. The pre-feasibility is all ridiculous to misguide the government and the public as WAPDA has hidden the meritorious technical side of the pre-feasibility report. It has completely ignored its unique technical features. Such dams are rare. This is not a feasibility report for a dam and cannot be relied on. The spectacular Katzarah dam site, in the narrowest Indus gorge, with bedside of about 400 feet, about 3 Km or so, on the upstream of Ayub Bridge, on the Indus is the gift of God. How can WAPDA ignore the following two dozen merits of the multipurpose and unique Katzarah Dam?

Unique merits of Katzarah Dam.

1.      It will control super floods in the Indus as of 2010.

2.      It will function as water shed management dam to prevent silt in the Indus water that comes from the highly erodible soil of Skardu valley that will be submerged. Katzarah if built will increase the life of Basha Dam from its estimated life of 80 years to 800 years. Also increase the remaining life of Tarbela Reservoir by about 50 years.

3.      Katzarah will be the tallest Dam in the world.

4.      It will be the narrowest dam in the world, with bed width of about 400 feet.

5.      Katzarah will have a life span of about 1000 years.

6.      It will be the cheapest dam in the world per maf of the storage capacity, per MW of power generation, per year of life span, and per year of its service value.

7.      Katzarah has a gross storage capacity of 35 maf, about 6 times the storage capacity of Basha Dam or Kalabagh Dam.

8.      It has the potential to produce 15,000 MW of hydropower generation capability only second to the Three Gorges Dam in China.

9.      Katzarah is the only dam to meet the 22 maf of storage water requirements of IRSA to implement Water Accord. The Accord is not implemented for the past 20 years.

10.  It will meet the Replacement storage of about 7.0 maf lost to silting of Tarbela and Mangla Reservoirs. This will replenish the storage lost due to silting, created under the Indus Waters Treaty.

11.  India has acquired the ability to store about 40 maf of water on Jehlum and Chenab Rivers in the occupied Kashmir, thus preventing flows for Rabi crop growing season. Our Rabi crop water requirements are 38 maf. India will deprive Pakistan of this quantity.                                         Katzarah will mitigate it to avoid famine. There is no other mega storage dam site in Pakistan except Katzarah.

12.  India has planned 12 dams on Kabul River for Afghanistan preventing Rabi supplies to Pakistan.

13.  Katzarah is a mega dam for the Water, power and food Security of Pakistan

14.  Katzarah has the potential to irrigate the entire Kachi plain of Baluchistan by gravity flow from Chashma Barrage as proposed by me in 1962, under the title “All Pakistan Grand Canal”.              

15.   Katzarah has many times more storage than the storage capacities of all the dams in Pakistan.

16.  Katzarah is a seasonal Dam. It will supply water when required most in lean period

17.  Katzarah is a carryover dam.

18.  Katzarah is the only dam to sustain the Indus basin irrigation system.

19.  Katzarah is the only dam in Pakistan to support the irrigation system to produce food and ensure food security as there are no dam sites on Kabul, Jehlum and Chenab Rivers.

20.  Katzarah Dam has the best Capacity Inflow Ratio in the entire reach of the Indus River.

21.  The Government should ask WAPDA, how would it meet the storage water requirements of 22 maf demanded by IRSA, 7.0 maf as replacement storage lost due to silting and other irrigation water needs besides water requirements to check sea water intrusion as demanded by Sindh.

22.  As far as hydropower generation is concerned, Katzarah would generate more power than the combined power generation from Bunji Dam, Dasu Dam, Munda Dam, Kurram Tangi, and Gomal Dam.

23.  Katzarah Dam would mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.

24.  Katzarah Dam will support artificial afforestation of the country.

25.  Katzarah would mitigate the serious situation created by India by building 32 dams on Jehlum and Chenab Rivers, stopping Rabi supplies to Pakistan, as revealed by the Report of John Kerry to the U.S. Senate. The report is as follows:-

26.  “that India has acquired the ability to store enough water to limit the supply of water to Pakistan at critical moment in the growing season.”

27.  Katzarah is the only dam to meet this destructive situation. If WAPDA foolishly ignores Katzarah, then which dams would meet Rabi water requirements of about 38 maf to avoid famine? WAPDA should name the dams with assurance that they are feasible.

The nature of other dams in Pakistan

Bunji Dam, Dasu Dam and Munda Dam are mostly power dams. Gomal Dam and Kurram Tangi Dam have very small power generation, and small storage capacities. These are local dams. Kalabagh Dam is politically controversial and technically infeasible for its hydraulic design and weak foundation besides low power generation requiring 2000 MW of thermal power support. Akhori Dam, the off channel dam, has been declared infeasible by Dr Pieter Lieftnick in 1968 due to weak foundation, and many other reasons including the raising of the height of Tarbela Dam by 15 feet.

Guroh Dop Dam in Dir on Panjkora River is a wonderful, multipurpose dam with a storage capacity of 8.5 maf, generating about 600 MW of hydropower. It has excellent capacity inflow ratio. It has life span of 1000 years but is ignored by WAPDA. This dam has also the capability to store another 4 maf of flood water to be diverted through a tunnel from Chitral River by building a dam at Mirkhani and generate more power. Guroh Dop Dam is a wonderful flood control dam for Kabul River flow. Unfortunately this is again ignored by WAPDA though it is located only a few miles upstream of the single purpose Munda Dam.  

Three big Rivers have no storage dam sites in Pakistan.

It is unfortunate that there are no storage dam sites on Kabul River, Jehlum River and Chenab River in Pakistan. Therefore no flood control is possible on these rivers. This means Pakistan can only harness the Indus River flow. Indus River is therefore the backbone of the world’s largest contiguous Indus basin canal irrigation system. We must concentrate on the Indus River the life-line of Pakistan and on the unique Katzarah Dam. We must create Indus Valley Authority to develop water and hydropower potentials to the optimum limit on Indus river. WAPDA proved incapable to develop water and hydropower resources for food production in about 54 years of its creation.

The most promising dam sites in Pakistan are Katzarah Dam, followed by Guroh Dop Dam.  Mirkhani Dam, and the Raised Barrage-cum-dam at the end of the Indus River valley are their supporting dams. The raised barrage-cum-dam is a substitute for Kalabagh Dam.  The unique aspect of this project is that it requires no land acquisition, no land compensation and no displacement of population. Implement these four projects to save Pakistan from famine, hunger and death. Let the Government know that India has waged a silent war, using water as a weapon of mass destruction to ruin the Indus basin irrigation system.

WAPDA’s professional inability may be judged from the failure of the following mega projects, causing billions of rupees losses by abandoning projects.

1.      WAPDA failed to align the Kachi Kanal to command area in Baluchistan from Mithan Kot and as such abandoned it due to wrong planning.

2.      WAPDA planned Salinity control and reclamation projects (SCARPs) that failed to remove and control salinity and sodicity from the Indus basin canal command area as WAPDA did not know the technical definition of Drainage of irrigated lands to eradicate and control salinity and sodicity and maintain salt and water balance. WAPDA installed tube wells that pumped drainage effluent as groundwater to irrigate lands. This created more salinity. It did not provide horizontal sub-surface tile drainage to evacuate salinity out of the area as per the technical definition of drainage. WAPDA failed after wasting Rs 500 billions.

3.      WAPDA  planned National Drainage Programme (NDP) on similar lines but failed again wasting billions of rupees. Both the drainage projects were abandoned. The irrigation system is incomplete as its vital component of drainage system is missing. As such, it is subjected to rapid salinity. May be that in about 35 years the Indus basin turns as saline waste. If such situation arises, then irrigated agriculture would not develop as land and water are the basic and vital inputs of irrigated agriculture.

4.      The Indus basin irrigation system has no drainage system—a very vital component of irrigation system. Therefore salinity is spreading fast to destroy the fertile lands creating food insecurity that would result in famine and hunger.

5.      WAPDA selected dam site at Kalabagh, the end of the Indus River valley at a site that has the poorest capacity-inflow ratio, giving very short life as silt from a catchment area of 110,500 squire miles amounting to 550 million tons, equivalent to 0.3 maf, would be deposited in the reservoir. WAPDA wasted money and time and created status quo in dams building that caused super flood damages and crippling load shedding.

6.      WAPDA is now objecting to the construction of the unique Katzarah Dam on flimsy grounds, ignoring 22 maf storage water for IRSA, 7.0 maf to replace storage lost, 10 maf demanded by Sindh to check sea intrusion, and to meet Rabi shortages after India holds 40 maf water in dams in occupied Kashmir, not allowing the 38 maf of water required for growing Rabi crops to Pakistan. WAPDA ignores unique dam sites on the Indus and on Panjkora River.

7.      WAPDA never bothered to plan to carry out Integrated Comprehensive Water Management of the 150 years old, highly wasteful, incompatible and obsolete canal irrigation system to save 45 to 50 maf of water going waste.

8.      WAPDA never planned to control super floods in the Indus River and Kabul River.

9.      WAPDA has no strategy to counter the stoppage of rivers supplies of about 38 maf for Rabi crops by India who built 32 dams in occupied Kashmir.

10.  Ignoring all above realities, WAPDA has shelved the unique 35-maf Katzarah Dam and the multipurpose Guroh Dop Dam due to WAPDA poor planning capability.

11.  WAPDA has also ignored the project conceived by me for the Raised-dam-cum-barrage at the end of the Indus valley, storing 3.4 maf of water repeatedly to be filled, generating between 2000 MW to 6000 MW of hydropower besides acting as balancing reservoir and a unique substitute for Kalabagh Dam. This projects involves no land acquisition, no land compensation and no population displacement as the reservoir is within the Indus valley.

12.  WAPDA failed to align Kachi canal from Chashma barrage as proposed by me in April 1962 as All Pakistan Grand Canal, irrigating the entire Kachi plain of Baluchistan.

13.  WAPDA harmed the country much more than the war on terror by wasting time, money, and by destroying the natural resources of water and hydropower creating water shortage and food insecurity.

I feel our institutions have gone into deep coma as they have taken no action on my reports on dozens of water issues faced by Pakistan and on the report of John Kerry. I feel national interests are ignored. I feel our doom is near. A miracle can save the situation but miracles are rare. God will not help us by miracles as we do not help ourselves.

                   

Copt to:-

              The President of Pakistan, President House Islamabad

              The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Prime Minister House, Islamabad.

              The Minister of Water and Power, Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad

              The Secretary Ministry of Water and Power, Islamabad.

              Advisor on Water, Ministry of Water and Power, Islamabad.

              Chairman Indus River System Authority (IRSA) Islamabad.

              Minister for Finance, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad

              Minister for Food and Agriculture, Government of Pakistan Islamabad

              Chief Minister Government of PK (NWFP), Chief Minister House, Peshawar

              Chief Minister Government of Punjab Lahore

              Chief Minister Government of Baluchistan, Quetta

              Chief Minister Government of Sindh Karachi

I have explained the serious situation of Water Security Power Security, Food Security, destruction of irrigated agriculture, silting of reservoirs, rapid salinity of land, wasteful and obsolete canal irrigation system, Indian aggression using water as a weapon of mass destruction against Pakistan, John Kerry report on water situation showing violation of the Indus Waters Treaty, India planning 12 dams for Afghanistan on Kabul River, Flood devastation of Pakistan and controlling floods in future, blockage of natural drains due to encroachments violating canal and drainage act of 1887 and the  Lack of Integrated Comprehensive Water Management wasting 45 maf to 50 maf of water in the incompatible and obsolete canal irrigation system, besides in floods.

To improve things, I suggest the institution of inquiry why WAPDA failed to develop land, water and power resources for which it was created. Why WAPDA adopted policy of “Kalabagh Dam or no dam” that resulted in devastating floods in 2010 and the never ending crippling load shedding that destroyed industries and business. I suggest shifting Water Wing of WAPDA to Islamabad as it was done for IRSA. I further suggest creating Indus Valley Authority to develop the Indus River on the lines of Tennessee Valley Authority. I suggest  solving all the water issues as pointed out above. For more details, each of the above water issue is discussed in my website  fatehuk.blogspot.com