The fate of hundreds of thousands of people in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province is linked to a 90-year-old dam that directs the flow of water from the Indus River to one of the world’s largest irrigation systems.
The Pakistani government has declared a state of emergency to deal with floods caused by record monsoon rains that have affected some 33 million people, many of whom depend for their livelihoods on the Indus River.
But as the river gives in the days of plenty, so it can take.
Sindh was subjected to weeks of torrential rains that flooded agricultural lands throughout the region, and now, torrents are flowing from the swollen tributaries of the mountainous north down the direction of the Indus River, and are expected to arrive in the coming days.
The Indus River rises in Tibet and divides Pakistan, where it meanders more than three thousand kilometers south into the Arabian Sea near Karachi.
Water is already beginning to flow over the banks of the Indus in many places, and unless the Sukkur Dam can control the flow, disaster will follow.
When the Sukkur Dam, known as the Lloyd Dam, was completed in 1932, it was considered an engineering marvel as it was able to drain 1.4 million cubic meters of water per second through 19 steel gates centered between stone pillars.
The dam is the central element of the city, and it is a magnet for tourists who like to pose in front of it, and it also provides a major bridge across the river.
Water Resources Minister Syed Khurshid Shah said, “He has been in service for 90 years, knowing that he was sponsored for 50 years.”
“That is, we exceeded the bail period by 40 years,” he explained.
The dam redirects water into a series of canals totaling about 10,000 kilometers in length and passing through farmland, but years of neglect mean it is unable to handle today’s record volumes of water.
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