Eco-friendly water supply: Karez system at risk of collapse in Mastung

Many surviving karezes of the area can be restored with a little attention.

MASTUNG: The centuries-old water management system in Mastung, known as karez, is in serious jeopardy with underground water level descending to lower and lower levels, creating acute shortage of the precious commodity.

The system, which relies on wells linked by an underground canal that collect water in a basin, is at risk of fading out altogether from lack of upkeep and interest by the authorities. The people of the area are having a hard time meeting their domestic and agricultural water needs because of severe shortage.

People here had been using the eco-friendly karez system for centuries to fulfill their water needs in this hot and dry area. According to local elders, there were about 360 karezes in Mastung that ensured its lush green orchards over vast tracts of agricultural lands.

However, there has been no care and maintenance of these waterlines since long, with the result that now only a few survive.

Abdul Haiye Sarparah, a resident of Killi Khawja Ibrahim area, said that a surviving karez in his area still has water in abundance and it only needed cleaning and clearance as some of the wells have closed down hindering the water flow to its destination.

He said that a vast area of fertile land can again be brought under cultivation if the wells are cleared. He said that this will also solve the problem of lowering underground water levels which have dropped from 300 feet in the not-too-distant past to 800 feet in recent years.

He said the water level is going further down as people are pulling water by boring the ground. Some 9,000 boring holes have been dug only recently. This, he said, is alarming because it is taking the water level further down.

The people of the district have appealed to Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Khan Raisani and their elected representative in the Balochistan Assembly to pay attention to the decaying karezes. They have also asked their MNA Ayatullah Durrani to help the people of his constituency in this human and environmental issue.

Karez system is estimated to be in use since the early first millennium BC and it is in use in areas included in the present-day Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and many countries of North Africa and Central Asia.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2011.