The campaign in favour of dams was misleading, driven by dam lobbies without credible research; billions were invested in mega-dams.<\/p>\n
Dams are not flood-proof; while they may reduce small floods, they intensify large ones by narrowing river channels.<\/p>\n
Sedimentation makes dams unsustainable, as they silt up within 50 years.<\/p>\n
Alternatives exist; Pakistan\u2019s aquifers, wetlands, and river floodplains can store nearly 500 MAF of water.<\/p>\n
The push for dams is portrayed as contractor- and loan-driven.<\/p>\n
Dams are not only about flood control; their core role in Pakistan is storing and regulating water for agriculture, drinking, and hydropower during dry months.<\/p>\n
Without reservoirs, Pakistan cannot meet year-round water needs due to highly seasonal rainfall and river inflows.<\/p>\n
Aquifers are not infinite: over-extraction already causes depletion, salinity, and contamination in Punjab and Sindh.<\/p>\n
Dams actually help recharge aquifers, so controlled surface storage is essential for groundwater sustainability.<\/p>\n
Relying solely on \u201cnatural flows\u201d is unrealistic, as Pakistan\u2019s dense population in floodplains makes floods far deadlier compared to Europe, where governance regulates land use better.<\/p>\n
Sedimentation can be managed through modern engineering methods like flushing, bypass tunnels, dredging, and watershed care, which have already extended Tarbela and Mangla\u2019s lifespan.<\/p>\n
Hydropower from large reservoirs is vital for Pakistan\u2019s energy security, providing clean, domestic, long-term electricity that complements, not competes with, solar and wind.<\/p>\n
Large dams also help with peak demand management and base-load electricity, making them crucial for climate mitigation.<\/p>\n
The best approach is integrated: dams for strategic storage and energy, aquifers and wetlands for resilience and ecological balance. Rejecting dams altogether is impractical for Pakistan\u2019s water-stressed reality.<\/p>\n
The reality is that Pakistan\u2019s existential water challenge requires large strategic reservoirs to regulate flows, provide water security, generate energy, and recharge aquifers. Nature-based solutions are valuable complements, but they cannot replace the storage, regulation, and reliability that dams uniquely provide in a monsoon-driven, water-stressed country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Few Arguments against Dams The campaign in favour of dams was misleading, driven by dam lobbies without credible research; billions were invested in mega-dams. Dams are not flood-proof; while they may reduce small floods, they intensify large ones by narrowing river channels. Sedimentation makes dams unsustainable, as they silt up within 50 years. Alternatives exist; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":76443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31150],"class_list":["post-85706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan","tag-pakistan-dams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85708,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85706\/revisions\/85708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}