Water experts reject Diamer Basha Dam

KARACHI: Disapproving the construction of Diamer Basha Dam as utterly counterproductive, water experts and academics on Thursday said building more dams on River Indus would be a huge damage to the already dying delta.

These alarms were raised during an online conference, organised by Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, a non-government organization that works over issues of water, fishermen, peasants, and environment.

Water expert Hassan Abbas said that 60 percent of the population of the country did not have access to clean water, people were consuming polluted and arsenic-tainted water and Diamer Bhasha Dam cannot resolve these issues.

“Diamer Bhasha Dam will not resolve the electricity issue either, which will be so expensive that nobody will be able to afford it,” Abbas said.

Chairman Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum Muhammad Ali Shah said by stopping the water, Indus River, its delta and people living there had been pushed to the wall socially and economically. “The water, which brings silt for the growth of fish species, fills up lakes and provides rich soil to the lands, has either been constrained or dried up,” Shah said. Due to slow down of freshwater flow into Delta, various water ways, creeks and lakes had become brackish along with underground water resources and resultantly, wells and ponds are not drinkable anymore for the local population and they are forced to purchase drinking water, the chairman said.

He said due to an increase in the salt level, lands have become barren. “Once rich fisheries, due to mangrove forests, are now jeopardised and people of delta are migrating on a larger scale. Despite of that, the federal government is constructing Basha and other dams that will further jeopardise life connected with the Indus River,” he said.

Water expert of Mehran University Professor Dr Altaf Ali Siyal said it was reported that about decreasing water flow and silt had encouraged the sea to intrude. “A study reports that Indus delta has shrunk 90 percent. The entire irrigation system of Pakistan is not efficient. About 60 percent of water is lost from source to farm,” Siyal added.