The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government has constructed 37 small dams to store flood and rain water and bring arid lands under agriculture cover. The dams have a total water storage capacity of 0.3414 Acres Feet (AF) and irrigate 0.1377 million-acre cultivated (CCA) of land. The spokesman of Small Dams Directorate, Irrigation Department said that 24 more small dams are being built in different districts of KP with assistance of the Federal government. These dams will have a total water storage capacity of 75,000 AF and irrigate 49,523 acres of land. The spokesman said that about 46,000 big and small dams have been constructed in the world, including 22,104 dams by China and 5,334 dams by India. However, only 150 dams have been built in Pakistan since independence.

 He said that small dams can be constructed in a short span of two to three years, while big dams take 10 to 15 years to build. He added that Pakistan will require an additional 76 MAF water by 2050, which can only be achieved by constructing small and medium dams. In addition to the 37 small dams that have already been built, the spokesman said that seven medium dams are in the design stage. These dams will have a total water storage capacity of 520,884 AF and will generate 31.5 megawatts of power. The spokesman said that practical work on the construction of these seven medium dams will start soon.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)