Pakistan will face water shortage by the end of 2020 if measures are not adopted to develop and conserve its water resources. The country is almost arid with less than 15 inches rain per annum in 80 per cent of its area. Sindh is completely arid as its annual rainfall is less than 15 inches.

Nature has blessed Sindh with the river Indus which has made its central valley green and fertile. Out of the total geographical area of 1,40,914 square km, more than 55 per cent area on the right and left sides of the river are out of its reach and hence arid.

Sindh is 95 per cent dependent on the Indus for its agricultural needs. About 7.5 million hectares are under the canal command but the actual irrigated area is less than four million hectares.

The province is totally dependent on the Indus water for its food, fibre and ecological needs and is in a weak position as the major catchment area of the river is thousands of km away and the river water passes through upper riparian provinces of NWFP and Punjab before entering into the province.

Sindh, being a lower riparian on Indus faces crisis whenever there is less precipitation and less ice melt of glaciers in catchment area due to climatic changes or unfairness in distribution of water from the dam and barrages in upper reaches.

The centuries old artificial irrigation system through a net work of canals and better productivity of alluvial plain of Sindh has made the populace dependent on Indus basin irrigation system (IBIS) only.

However, a stage has been reached when additional availability of water from Indus is not possible as the demand of water by upper riparians has increased and they have started constructing infrastructure for diverting more water to their own areas

Sindh can at the most receive 44 to 48 maf of water as its share from Indus even with complete fairness in the distribution. This quantity of water will not suffice the needs of Sindh for agricultural, industry and drinking water by the end of second of decade of this century at the present rate of increase in population. The province must explore other possibilities of developing and conserving water resources specially in arid areas of Sindh.

Sindh's arid zone comprises of mountainous or hilly tract on the right side of Indus plains which is termed as Kachoo-Kohistan and Thar on the left side of Indus plains. These areas are devoid of any proper irrigation system and no efforts have been ever made to conserve their water resources or utilize property.

As communication in these areas remained difficult due to lack of metalled roads, no efforts were made except some isolated ones for construction of small dykes and weirs in Kohistan and Nangar Parkar in early 1960s. The results of such interventions were also not encouraging.

The Sindh Arid Zone Development Authority (SAZDA) carried out some studies for construction of small delay action and recharged dams in Kohistan and Thar region (Parkar Area) and in 1989 and 91-92 in which following 28 sites in Kohistan and 15 sites in Nangar Parkar were found feasible.

Irrigated agriculture is confined to major streams only. Present cultivated area is around 23000 acres which could be increased to 80,000 acres after construction of dams as proposed in the feasibility study. One dam (Thado) has already been constructed on Thado rivulet near Gadap, which has given tangible benefits to the area through recharge of hundreds of wells.

Nagar Parkar: Average annual rainfall in parkar area of Tharparkar District is the highest in the province which is calculated as 14" (350mm) from rainfall record of about 60 years.

Better geological conditions, due to granite formation, run off is quite high which drains into Run of Kutch. In all, 16 streams were surveyed of which 15 were found suitable for construction of recharge dams.

Hundreds of wells in 50,000 acres plain area of Parkar could be recharged if small dams/Gabions are constructed in Parkar area. However, these reports remained on the shelves and decision-makers did not initiate any action.

Millions of rupees, spent on these feasibilities studies, have gone in waste. Water shortage in the alluvial plains of Sindh has warranted for development of water resources in arid area of Sindh, which is spread over more than 70,000 sq, km.

More than three million people live in these areas who are poorest among the poors as 90 per cent of the population is living below the poverty line. The livestock population is estimated to be over ten million which is main source of meat, beef and other animal products to city dwellers.

Although the rains in Sindh are scanty and erratic, unprecedented rains of more than 20 inches (1000 mm) in various parts of Kohistan and Thar, during monsoon 2003 have given hope that there is great potential for conserving rain water resources in and areas.

Small recharged and delay action dams have already been found feasible in these areas, and are required to be constructed without any further delay to harness intermittent rain water in the arid areas.

Millions of cubic meters of water could have been conserved through small delay action dams/ recharge dams in Kohistan region and Parkar area during the monsoon rains of 2003, if these small dams would have been constructed from 1989 and 91-92.

Lack of infrastructure in arid areas and financial resources are also major constraints. But lately, some roads in arid areas, specially Thar, have been constructed during last three years and this may be an encouraging factor.

As SAZDA has been wound up, there is no government agency at provincial level to carry out water resources development and conservation in arid areas. Although SAZDA's did not come to the expectations, its role in the exploration of water resources was appreciable.

Ground water investigations, exploration of deep seated ground water (up to 1200 feet depth) in Thar, reconnaissance surveys and feasibility studies for water resources development were its tangible achievements. The district governments in arid areas should establish their own engineering units, specifically for harnessing rain water.

It is high time that the concerned district governments should embark upon such sustainable water development programme as per their needs; otherwise poverty alleviation will remain a dream for such areas. The motto "small is beautiful and sustainable" should be under stood by the leadership, planners and the people.