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COMBATING DESERTIFICATION THROUGH SCOPE’S WATER
HARVESTING PROJECT
SCOPE
Malir, Pakistan
Introduction
The Khar dam was recently built in the district of Malir by local farmers with the help of
the Society for the Conservation and Protection of the Environment (SCOPE), a Pakistani
non-governmental organization working on implementation of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The purpose of constructing this small
retention dam was to save the land and water resources of Gadap, an agricultural
greenbelt in the vicinity of Karachi. It is a very small project on an economic scale. But
it is a great endeavour on the part of the local community and SCOPE to work on a selfhelp
basis to manage natural resources, on which thousands of families of farmers and
herders depend. This is also an example of how desertification can be combated
successfully.
Background
The Malir valley was once known for its abundance of arable land and water resources.
Before independence, it used to cater to the demands of the Karachi market for fruit,
vegetables, milk and honey. Thirty wells were dug by the Karachi Municipal Board at
Dumloti in Malir to supply potable water to Karachi. Karachiites used to visit numerous
green gardens in Malir for recreation. But later on, conditions changed altogether with
the supply of water from Kinjhar Lake to Karachi. Malir rapidly became desertified due
to:
·  Excessive sand and gravel excavation from the Malir river bed to supply the
construction of a raw materials market;
·  Influx of migrants from inside and outside the country and a tremendous increase
in population;
·  Excessive water extraction from groundwater aquifers;
·  Regular and prolonged spells of drought;
·  Urbanization of rural Malir, particularly its southern region.
Situation
The Malir valley stretches over a vast area from Kirthar Mountain in the Balochistan dry
region in its north. It is home to one million people in its 4,000 small villages and towns.
It may be divided into three physiological zones.
The extreme northern zone is a mountainous region with a number of hillocks running
parallel to each other in descending order. Between these hillocks, there are valleys of
sandy, alluvial soils characterized as rainshed area. Livestock raising is the mainstay of
the inhabitants. Water availability is the limiting factor and socio-economic activities
depend on rain only.
The central Malir valley has fertile soils but cultivation depends on ground water and rain
water harvesting. It is rural in nature, and farming and livestock raising are the mainstay
of the population. The southern Malir valley is now urbanized.
The Malir river and its tributaries, the Konkar, Mol, Khadegi and Thaddo, run through
the entire Malir valley, but only after seasonal rains. A good number of hill torrents also
pass through the central Malir valley. The Khar river is one of these hill torrents, which
passes through the Konkar and Gadap Union Council, with tremendous run-off after
torrential rains. The farmers of the Gadap Union Council are engaged in the cultivation of
fruit and vegetables and in raising small profits. There are about 300 dug and tube wells
in the Gadap area alone.
The problem of rapid desertification
Owing to excessive excavation of sand and gravel from the beds of hill torrents and overextraction
of water in the valley, the ground water table has been declining year by year,
causing a negative impact on the recharge of the wells and the economy of the area. The
water table has gone down from 60-70 ft (in the 1960s) to 300-700 ft.
SCOPE’s intervention
Since 1988, SCOPE has been focusing on the rehabilitation of the Malir valley. SCOPE
has been striving hard to restore the greenbelt in the Malir valley. With technical
guidance from researchers at the Geography Department of Karachi University, a
research study was conducted. The study focused on the social, economical, ecological
and physical impacts of sand and gravel excavation by comparing excavated areas with
non-mining areas. The study revealed that the Malir is rapidly becoming non-productive,
owing to soil loss and lack of ground water. Then SCOPE organized local people to stop
sand and gravel excavation from the area. The government also imposed a strict ban on
sand and gravel mining from specified areas of the Malir river-bed. Strict vigilance is
now imposed to stop sand and gravel mining from the river-bed and from the greenbelt in
the Malir valley.
In order to conserve the small quantities of water available, SCOPE in 1995 constructed a
water reservoir to store rainwater for domestic and animal drinking purposes, at Haji
Noor Mohammad Village. It introduced a sprinkling irrigation system by providing two
mobile sprinkler units to economize irrigation water at two different farms in the Gadap
Union Council.
Implications
The development of water resources is of vital importance for the sustainable socioeconomic
development of Malir district, which is rural with mainly an agrarian economy.
Owing to the scarcity of water resources, only 2,600 hectares of land are cultivated
against 29,210 hectares, which could potentially be made available for agricultural
purposes.
Though the area has great potential for developing its agricultural, livestock and poultry
enterprises, the scarcity of water supplies is the hampering factor. The climate is
moderate with good sunny days, offering favourable conditions for growing a good
number of crops.
The soils are sandy alluvial and the local population is industrious and used to
agriculture. With all these favourable conditions the agricultural sector should have
developed on many fronts, but it is still at a low ebb, mainly because of limited supplies
of water.
People’s perception
The local population has been rightly demanding assured water supplies for the survival
of the human and animal population in the area. At present, ground and rain water are
the only sources in the area. Ground water also depends on precipitation. Yet rain is
scanty and uncertain. To increase the ground water table, it is imperative that rainwater
run-off be checked at suitable sites to allow it to replenish the aquifers.
The District Council, in collaboration with the Sindh government, is building the Thaddo
dam to recharge groundwater aquifers. However this project is progressing very slowly
and will take a couple more years to be completed, provided funding is always available
from the government.
Aware of this perception held by the people, SCOPE has started working in that
direction.
Delay action check dam- a solution identified by the farmers
A number of potential sites are available, particularly in the northern Malir district, which
is a partially hilly region. A good number of hill torrents descend from the dry hillocks of
the Kirthar range and carry the run-off from the rainwater. Among these, the Khar river,
which is a non-perennial hill torrent, flows through the Lat, Gadap and Konkar Union
Councils of the central Malir district. On the left bank of this hill torrent there is a plain
fertile valley. The Gadap Union Council is the main agricultural area located in this
valley.
Khar valley is a watershed area. The sources of irrigation and potable water are dug, as
are tube wells to extract ground water and ponds to store rain water. The total level area
of the Khar valley is estimated to be 15,000 hectares. The existing agricultural area is
mainly located on a sub-recent flood plain. The total arable land is estimated to be about
9,000 hectares, which could potentially be brought under an agricultural enterprise by
exploiting ground water resources.
The Khar river is full of water after precipitation, but owing to fast run-off, dries up
quickly. Since the main recharge source to the aquifer is the Khar river in the valley, the
wells and tube wells erected in the Gadap Union Council are fed by the Khar river.
Conception of the Khar dam
The Khar valley has a significant comparative advantage in the production of fruit,
vegetables, commercial crops and medicinal plants in view of its location, warmer
climate, physical conditions and access to potential factor and product market. In order to
make use of all these advantages, the development of water resources is necessarily
required to ensure sustainable agricultural, forestry and livestock enterprises, which are
the only sources of income and employment in the area. It involves:
·  Increasing ground water recharge through the construction of delay action check
dams at appropriate sites;
·  Expanding irrigated arable land areas through augmentation of artificial ground
water recharge;
·  Sustaining ground water resources through monitoring and management;
·  Maintaining a greenbelt at the north-eastern side of Karachi;
·  Enhancing the supply of fruit, vegetable and livestock products to the metropolis
of Karachi;
·  Providing employment opportunities to the local population and thereby
improving their socio-economic conditions;
·  Increasing farm incomes and agricultural production.
Facing acute shortages of water, the farmers and pastoralists of the Khar valley, through
their organization “Kisan Committee Gadap” pressurized their local government to build
a check dam at Khar, which would increase the ground water table. Though the District
Council in Karachi accepted people’s request, it kept the project pending because of a
shortage of resources. The farming community of the area was getting more frustrated by
the day.
Aware of the people’s grievances, SCOPE, which is committed to rehabilitating the
degraded land, decided to take up the project on a participatory basis and initiated
motivational work. It held several meetings with groups of farmers, pastoralists and
members of the Kisan Committee, and motivated them to build the desired check dam on
a self-help basis. A large number of farmers gathered at Gadap on 14 March 1999 and
agreed to construct the dam on a self-help basis. They started collecting donations for the
purpose. At SCOPE’s request, the Baanhan Beli - another non-governmental organization
working on the development of Thar desert - had an irrigation engineer survey the site.
He gave advice for the construction of the dam.
Then SCOPE and the Kisan Committee constituted teams for the collection of funds from
farmers, as well as stone , sand, water, skilled and non-skilled labour, cement, etc. SCOPE
undertook to supply 1,000 bags of cement. The foundation stone was laid by Mr. Yonus
Dhaga, the deputy commissioner of Malir District, on 4 June 1999. The construction was
started and a 12 ft high check dam had been erected by 10 August 1999.
The result
Since the construction of the weir, run-off water has been successfully stored in a 400m x
100m x 15m lake. This lake is able to hold water for most of the year and the
groundwater level in the adjacent agricultural area within a 20 km radius has risen
sharply. Many completely dry wells and water holes have come to life again and farmers
are able to irrigate their fields happily. Roughly 300 acres of land, which were lying idle
owing to lack of water, have been brought under cultivation again. After every monsoon
rain, water percolation increases and water aquifers are being replenished.
Conclusion
There is an acute need for the construction of a number of flood retention check dams in
the arid zones of Sindh and Balochistan provinces to ensure the survival of the local
population and improvement of the country’s agrarian economy. It will help to build
confidence among communities and bring economic stability.