For decades WAPDA has been roundly criticized, some times fairly, some times not, for load shedding, huge line losses, electricity theft and unsatisfactory performance in providing electricity to the country, where over 40,000 villages still have no electric power. Now it appears that its record on the water side is even less commendable. WAPDA's neglect has been partially, if not substantially, responsible for the present crisis over the Kalabagh Dam. The recently released Report of the Technical Committee on Water Resources (the Abbasi Report) has roundly condemned WAPDA on its inept maintenance of our priceless dams at Mangla and Tarbela, which has reduced the captivity of the reservoirs substantially and led to a major national crisis over building a new dam.

In these columns last week I had suggested alternatives to Kalabagh, including the need for proper maintenance of reservoirs through desalting and dredging. This has generated a lot of discussion. Over the years WAPDA has completely neglected the maintenance aspect and has permitted silt to accumulate in Mangla and Terbela reservoirs, whose storage capacity has consequently been reduced by almost 30%. That is, by almost 3.2 MAF. Compare this loss of 3.2 MAF with the total capacity of Kalabagh, which is 6 MAF and one can visualize what a huge loss poor maintenance has caused. Kalabagh will cost over 6 billion dollars to build and has already created a serious national crisis. A major justification being given by proponents of more big dams is that in a couple of decades Tarbela and Mangla will be silted up completely and all our canals will become dry. Nobody is doing anything to stop this from happening. Desilting and dredging will not only stop the reservoirs from shrinking further but will also restore a considerable part of the capacity which has been lost already.

In fairness to WAPDA, in 1998 it hired renowned international consultants Tippets, Abbet,McCarthy & Stratton and HR Wellingford to address the siltation issue. The Consultants made three concrete recommendations:-

a. Construct underwater dykes to protect tunnel intakes;

b. Build a bypass to flush out sediments; and

c. Procure dredgers having very high dredging capacity for dredging the intake channel.

Estimated cost: only US $ 663 million.

WAPDA, under its then chairman – a Lieutenant General who spent much of lhis tenure busy hounding Independent Power Producers – " did not agree to the recommendations of TAMS Report and as such it was not implemented" as stated in the Technical Committee Report. WAPDA was, however, " Planning to organize an international seminar on sedimentation". Technical Committee Chairman Abbasi was highly critical of WAPDA's decision not to implement the TAMS recommendations and expressed his concern about silting of Tarbela "as to whether it is curable or not". As for WAPDA's pathetic proposal for holding a seminar, Chairman Abbasi declared " the acute silting problem of Tarbela reservoir cannot be solved by holding a seminar". Chairman Abbasi finally states " It is highly regrettable that this important report of Consultants submitted in 1998 has still not been formally accepted or rejected" even through seven years have passed, and "Tarbela is a national asset and its silting problem should be a matter of serious concern. Surely the problem is not such for which solution cannot be found".

The conclusions of the Abbasi Committee are categorical:

Firstly, "to increase the useful life of storage reservoirs , measures have to be taken for reducing silting, and providing efficient sediment sluicing devices."

Secondly "The TAMS Report of 1998 prepared by WAPDA's Consultants contains detailed study of siltation problem of Tarbela, and useful suggestions for remedial measures, but it has not been implemented by WAPDA, nor any satisfactory reasons have been stated for keeping it dormant. WAPDA has no other specific proposal for tackling silting problem of Tarbela. It is felt that silting problem of Tarbela needs more serious attention."

The technology for sediment removal at Tarbela and Mangla is there. The TAMS Report gives a cost of US$663 million for building an underwater dyke, a by-pass for flushing out sediment and high capacity dredging for the intake channel at Tarbela. That will increase the life of the reservoir by decades and is a very cost-effective method for its proper maintenance. And to restore its lost capacity, simple maintenance dredging is needed to pump out accumulated silt, as has been done everywhere in the world for hundreds of years. The 3800 miles long St Lawrence Seaway of the Great Lakes has been dredged every year for the last 150 years, removing million of tons annually. Dredging would be far easier and cheaper at Tarbela and Mangla, where all one needs are electrically run powerful pumps mounted on cheap dumb barges with relatively simple suction and discharge pipes.

The General on his watch as WAPDA Chairman slept on the TAMS Report and failed to maintain the reservoirs. The Water and Power Ministry must also accept part of the blame. Not forgetting our elected representatives, who have two Parliamentary Committees to oversea the Ministry and WAPDA. There is no reason why WAPDA's present leadership does not roll up its sleeves, dust the TAMS Report and get on with proper maintenance of our reservoirs. The country's future water supplies will be that much more secure.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, desilting and dredging are imperative for proper maintenance of reservoirs but are not a solution for all future requirements. Building of new dams is a separate matter altogether, although of course it is profoundly effected by how well or how badly we maintain our existing assets.