4.5 Construction of dams

Dera Ismail Khan Tank

Irrigation - Water Productivity and Operation, Sustainability and Climate Change

Table 5.

114

Villages under Gomal Zam dam command area.

Tehsil Villages Tehsil Villages Tehsil Villages Dera Ismail Khan Isa Khan Kulachi Kot Zafar Baladasti Tank Kot Murtaza

> Yar Manji Khel Naskor Nahura Gomal Potah Rori Ghasha Sikandar Shumali Mohabat Gorazai Chadrhar Kanor Dabara Hassani Hathala Shiekh Sultan Hawasi Gara Hayat Toran Tattor Hattu Kot Daulat Kalu Prangi Teli Gara Guldad Pattar Faqira Gara Sardar Uttar

Budh Looni Fateh Chadhrar

Kulachi Gharbi Shadda Kulachi Sharki Mutta Gara Jana Mian Khan Kot Attal Jamal Korai Gara Ibrahim Jamal Awan Gara Nadar Badar Diyal Maddi Daulat Khan Kot Zafar Firodasti Mamrez Balock Saggu Gandapuri Mamrez Pathan Gara Gul Mohd Khair Awan Rakh Ranwal Rakh Ranwal

> Ranwal Murma Bara Khel Kot Allah Dad Habib Wattoo Manjhi Khel Mashooqa Tei Malook Azami

Nadir Ali Shah Safdar Ali Shah Baghwal Kahu Dagar Khan

The flows of spate have been utilized for irrigation for centuries, but to avoid losses and wastage of water, a huge storage dam has been constructed on one of the watersheds. Gomal Zam is the largest zam amongst the five with greater catchment area and greater command area. The Gomal Zam irrigated 24 villages of Tank and 60 villages of Dera Ismail Khan (Table 5). The Government of Pakistan has initiated construction of dam on the watershed in 2002. The dam is named after the name of watershed Gomal Zam Dam. The dam was completed in 2013. The storage capacity of the dam is 1.140 MAF. The dam provides as source of irrigation and operates under a well-controlled system. The command area under the dam is 65,200 ha. The discharge of water has enhanced the efficiency of water and reduced the threats of floods and drought in the command areas. It will also produce 17.4 MW electricity as Pakistan is also facing the energy crisis. The climate of the area is subtropical, hot in summer and cold in winter. The crops grown before the construction of dam were wheat, gram, sorghum and millet. Now there is a potential of growing other crops as cash, cereal and sugar crops. The perennial availability of water has changed cropping pattern, and also the land which was previously kept – fallow – was used for cultivation [42].

Gomal Zam dam is the first intervention in which the spate water has been stored in a huge dam, because the heavy flood in the spate irrigation was difficult to control and used to cause much of the damage to the property and also the lives. Due to greater mass and velocity of the floods, the kinetic energy becomes greater and the damage it causes is also massive. The dam has positive impact on the economics and agriculture of the area which are noteworthy. After shifting from spate to canal irrigation, the mindset needs to be changed. There are several projects which are running to equip the farmers of the command area with improved techniques such as laser leveling, extension activities, etc. Also the area below the command area which had the water right in the spate irrigation has become deprived of the water resource on one hand, and also the ecology of the area has also changed, as the area now has become rainfed.
