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Kalabagh: The Emergency Dam

By Sohail

I recently read a news of India building numerous dams on rivers that flow through Pakistan while Pakistanis are not doing anything in this regard. This imbalance has given birth to a new threat to Pakistan. The threat of water.

With Pakistan ignoring the need of storing more water as the storage limit of existing dams shrink, Pakistan can face severe shortages and floods. Why the extremes? With no way to store excess water, and a neigboring coutnry with power to release or stop as much water it wants, Pakistan has opened itself to enormous danegers. 

How to solve Pakistan's water crisis?

Two words: Build dams. Build the most important dam. Build Kalabagh Dam. According to a report in The Nation, Kalabagh Dam is expected to be a 265 feet high earth filled dam. It will have a storage capacity of more than 6 Million Acre Feet. That can easily fulfill needs of almost all of Pakistan. In this article we will be quoting many of the figures from the above detailed report.

 The dam will further include an electricity generation capacity of 3600 MW. The amount of electricity that will eradicate load shedding from Pakistan. Furthermore, it will also save on oil that's needed to run thermal power generators and thus saving Pakistan on much needed foreign exchequer.

Why the urgency for Kalabagh Dam?


S--- happens. Siltation also happens. Siltation happens when soil erodes and sediments form under the water. As this occurs, the capacity of dams to store water reduces. That's the situation in Mangla, Tarbela and Chashma Dams.

Furthermore, Pakistan's Water Research Institute has given a time frame that Pakistan won't have adequate water by 2025. A few more years and dearth of water will begin in Pakistan.




In retrospect, Kalabagh dam will continue to have storage capacity that can hold more than 3.2 MAF of water for more than years! Needed. Urgently!

If the dam is not built, the worst affected area will be Sindh. It's no hidden fact that immense heat in Karachi has begun to take lives and the water woes are becoming the city's biggest problem.

Ok, so what will Kalabagh Dam do?

Kalabagh dam is expected to give an additional 2.2 MAF water to Sindh while also reducing underground salination.


While not just providing usual water to Sindh, it will also make sure to save the 30 MAF of water that goes into the sea. That goes wasted as there is a dearth of storage capacity in existing dams. The excess flood water could also be saved and thus be given to Sindh when it needs it for agriculture.

In the KPK it is expected to irrigate the virgin lands of DI Khan and Bannu through link canals through proper management and maintenance.

Apprehensions that a province might take more water through KBD are unfounded as all that will be controlled by the central authority. They are baseless and unfounded and being spread by those who don't want a safer future for Pakistan.

What does Kalabagh Dam gotta do with Floods?


When a major chunk of the wasted water will be saved, future generations of Pakistan will be saved.

There is an opposition that talks about why not build Diamir Bhasha Dam instead. Its because, there is no instead. Both are important and have their own benefits. As Bhasha dam is located upstream and monsoon rains occur downstream, it can not save the excess flood water. Such as the floods that created havoc in 2010.

Furthermore, Kalabagh Dam is expected to be built within 6 years as all infrastructure requirements are complete and both cost and time of building it is half of Diamir Bhasha Dam.

Storage capacity of BD is 6.4 MAF, while KBD is 6.1 MAF. Power generation capacity of KBD is 3600 MW and BD has a capacity of 4500 MW.

Thus strengthening the fact that both dams are equally important and would play a pivotal role in Pakistan's development.

What is your job in this regard?


Time we Pakistanis realize the urgency of the dam. Time we Pakistanis join hands to make this dam. Time we do it before water shortages damages the irrigation system. Time we do it before Pakistan, God forbid, turns into another one like some barren land in Africa.

The fruits and vegetables we eat, the crops we grow, the cotton that runs our industries, the food we consume, the water we drink, all depends on these dams.

Pakistanis have risen up and social media is trending with hashtags like #ڈیم_بناؤ_پاکستان_بچاؤ (Make Dams, Save Pakistan).

Metros can wait, let's build dams...


Climate change is real...


Let's talk!



Join hands together as the future is ours combined. It's everyone's duty and obligation to play their role in making Pakistan greener and better. In not letting Pakistan dry out.

Don't let the enemies win. Build the dam before it's too late. Build more dams before we suffer the the worst fate.

Pakistan Zindabad!

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