Abstract:
Kalabagh Dam (KBD) project holds a unique place in Pakistan’s policy making history. It has
generated significant heated debate and controversy for a very long time. Three out of the country’s
four provinces have refused to go along with this project. However, in spite of the heated debate facts
on KBD are not transparent, and the case of smaller provinces has not been highlighted in
mainstream media debates. This paper investigates key issues like how much Indus river water is
available, the annual wastage of 35 MAF water and the negative consequences of interventions
with nature. On the face of it, at present, water is available for storage and expanded irrigation but
the question is whose water and at what expense? Will it remain available in future when India
utilizes all that has been acceded to it under the Indus Basin Treaty of 1960? Second, all that is
ours is not available on regular basis. The average availability includes the occasional superfloods.
Unless we can store the superfloods the average availability is simply not there for, sometimes, years
on end; but KBD cannot store the superfloods. It is not a carryover dam. Finally while more
irrigation water will be made available to Sindh, it will come at the expense of what is already
passing through it and required for flood irrigation and as essential environmental outflows.
