Balochistan’s water storage capacity reaches 68,939 acre feet

ISLAMABAD, Apr 03: The water storage capacity of Balochistan has reached to 68,939 acre feet which will enhance the irrigation network and address water scarcity issues of the drought-hit province. Under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), as many as 27 dams have been completed having storage capacity of 68,939 acre feet in various districts of Balochistan. There are also ongoing small, medium, large and delayed action dams at various stages of implementation that will further add another 9.016 million acre feet (MAF) to the existing storage capacity. After the construction of large reservoirs in the country, the storage capacity of water will increase to several million-acre feet that will help store rain and floods water during monsoon. An official of the Ministry of Water and Power said that the work was underway on various projects in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh to address the growing issue of water scarcity. “The federal government is also providing funds for construction of various small, medium, large, and delay action and recharge dam projects in the country through Federal Public Sector Development Program (PSDP)”, he said. These projects aimed at providing water for irrigation, agriculture, and drinking purposes which were being implemented by WAPDA and Irrigation Departments of four provinces besides the Public Health Engineering Department, Balochistan. At present combined storage capacity of Mangla, Tarbela, and Chashma reservoirs is about 14.349 MAF. After the completion of ongoing projects i.e. Mohmand, DiamerBasha, and NaiGaj Dams, the gross storage capacity will be increased to 23.988 MAF. NNI