In coming days, I will break down the design nitty gritty, and publish on this blog.
Here is an overview of Soan Dam project
Soan reservoir will keep Tarbela near dead level during summer, and will collect water as it arrives. Soan lake can store up to 6 times more water than Tarbela, Kalabagh or Diamer Basha dam. This will keep Tarbela ever-ready for floods, and eliminate chances of co-inciding floods in Peshawar valley.
Water's economic value in this project is dozens time more than hydel power, but there is a lot of hydel potential too, in fact more than existing hydel capacity of WAPDA.
Summer Water will be transferred using combination of Tunnels and fast channel like Ghazi Barotha Canal.
similar power channel at exit can tap more hydroelectricity than Kalabagh dam.
We have experience of making and maintaining such structures.
Here is an overview of Soan Dam project
Soan reservoir will keep Tarbela near dead level during summer, and will collect water as it arrives. Soan lake can store up to 6 times more water than Tarbela, Kalabagh or Diamer Basha dam. This will keep Tarbela ever-ready for floods, and eliminate chances of co-inciding floods in Peshawar valley.
Water's economic value in this project is dozens time more than hydel power, but there is a lot of hydel potential too, in fact more than existing hydel capacity of WAPDA.
Summer Water will be transferred using combination of Tunnels and fast channel like Ghazi Barotha Canal.
similar power channel at exit can tap more hydroelectricity than Kalabagh dam.
We have experience of making and maintaining such structures.
All so well said, but the people of Pashtunkhwa have been deprived of their water recources since 1992 via Ghazi Barotha canal.The federal(aka Punjab ) govt. had struck a deal with Pashtunkhwa govt. which allowed Punjab to take water share of Pashtunkhwa via Ghazi barotha canal and promised to help Pashtunkhwa build small dams to utilize their water share in the future.But immediately after the deal ,the federals imposed restriction on building such dams,, and upto date , the Punjab govt. has not paid for the water they are still taking from Pashtunkhwa nor are dams being built inspite of the promise that federals would help build these dams.I dont know which one of the three Ps(Pakistan,Pashtunkhwa,Punjab) to go with...Pehchnta nahi hun hun abhi rahbar ko mein
ReplyDeleteGhazi Bharota has got nothing to do with the irrigation system. Mr Zahed Shah, i am sorry, your information is not correct. A canal starts from Ghazi and falls in rived Indus at Bharota after generating 1450 megawatt electricity. It's state of the art project designed by the Pakistani Engineers without any consultants from abroad. All the water entering and flowing into the canal, again gets added in river Indus at Bharota. Regarding small dams, still there is no restriction to built those, I myself have remained at at Besham for four years and was in-charge for construction of small dams from Thakot to Challas.
DeleteGhazi barotha throws back all the water to Indus river after running the turbines.
ReplyDeleteNorthern Pashtunkhwa has much more water than it needs. their problem is floods, not drought.
Southern Pashtunkhwa needs Gomal Zam and Kurram Tangi type projects in pipeline. Kalabagh can help too, but it has become controvertial and politicized in Sindh and Northern Pashtunkhwa
Dear Brother, instead of using a canal directly from Tarbela to the proposed location, looking at the google map you have given above it seems if a link from Ghazi brotha link Canal is strecthed to soan, it might cut the cost further. Kindly share darker side of this suggestion and Moreover, i have still not comprehended why we need another canal from Soan to Jinnah birage when river Soan is already flowing to Indus.
ReplyDeleteElevation is the most important factor during design of water related structures.
ReplyDeleteGhazi Barotha Canal's elevation is around 335 meters above sea level.
Soan Reservoir's pondage is between 300 to 400 meters. it means if Ghazi Barotha Canal is extended, it won't be able to fill the lake without involving lifting of water, which is quiet expensive. Instead a new canal from Tarbela's dead level (418 m) can easily transfer watrer using gravitational flow.
Use of new canal from Soan Dam to Jinnah barrage is for ROR hydel power. You guessed right, it may not be needed for water to flow back to Indus, but this channel can produce the missing electricity more efficiently that Kalabagh could have produced with Indus water.
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ReplyDeleteIs it possible to intially build the Tunnels from terbela to Soan Dam site and put the power plant in place to recover the cost of the project straight away, ( flow back the water to indus via Soan River ), I mean producing electiricty from this phase ( Tunnels or canal ) and wait for the rest of project to finish at later stage, keeping in mind our financial position is too weak to start Basha and Soan at the same time?
ReplyDeleteone more question, what is the cost of displacement of population at the Soan valley and the dam site??
ReplyDeleteKalabagh was taking care not only Indus River but also Kabul river, further being in down stream towards south it could take maximum rain water. How this extra water will come for this river. 2ndly the location you have shown consists of many cities town & vill including chakwal. no word on amount of ppl need to be displaced. no word on depth length/width or area of this dam?
ReplyDeleteconsidering the geography of Peshawar vale, we don't need to block the rain water or snowmelt of Sawat or Kabul rivers. this is a major issue why Kalabagh Dam I opposed in KPK.
ReplyDeleteSoan Dam will instead split the flow of Indus main stem above Tarbela, and keep Tarbela empty for floods. No City will drown with Soan dam, and lake will mainly stay inside the gorge. displacing villages is a major planning issue, and will be carried out with appropriate alternative plan
ya dam INSHA ALLAH zaroor banay ga lekin jab pakistan ko ak haqeqi muhib watan leader milay ga.
ReplyDeleteghazi barotha and few other dams are already taking water from tarbella dam and now planning to make other dependent dam on tarbella and then throw all water to indus river which is the waste of water.We should not rely on one single source but make new resources And secondly do not compare it with kalabagh dam Klala bagh dam has many more benefits like it can increase our economic potential by the growth of agriculture industry in blochistan ,kpk and sindh as well. No threat to Peshawar valey and Nowshehra city as it is 150 feet above the water level.Kalabagh Dam, was not only beneficial to Punjab alone but it would be more helpful in erasing poverty from Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtun Khawa. The dam would irrigate 800,000 acres of land that is located 100-150 feet above the Indus river level in the province land also could only be brought under cultivation if the river level is raised that is only possible if Kalabagh Dam is built.
ReplyDeleteBut the peoples think that it is for Punjabi's only its totally rubish ! we are Muslims and we are one Nation so we should not fight against Indian and yahoodi's agenda .
Nation has to give sacrifices and for our beloved Nation if we have to leave our beloved homes so we should. Think about it
Izzah, comparing Kalabagh dam with Soan Dam is like comparing a donkey cart with a Truck. you need to compare the figures involved. Kalabagh is 6.1 MAF and Soan is 38 MAF. Kalabagh kills indus delta, Soan Dam saves it. Kalabagh produces 2000 MW, Soan Dam produces 5000+ MW, Kalabagh drowns KPK, Soan dam splits KPK floods, Soan Dam can irrigate 6 times more area than Kalabagh. there are much more benefits, but you need to digest these first.
DeleteI think Capital cost of Kalabagh is very very less than the cost of Soan Dam. Although the storage Capacity if Kalabagh is 6 MAF anf soan Dam is 36 MAF but Kalabagh will also Handle the floods created by Swat River and Qabul river. Now thw height of Kalabagh is reduced and it is equal to the ground level of Attock Pull (Where Qabul and Indus Meet), than why we should oppose Kala Bagh dam where only a wall is needed in the valley for the dam??????
ReplyDeleteCapital cost of Soan dam equal to Kalabagh.
ReplyDeleteEven if Kalabagh dam is kept empty, its dead storage (that never empties) extends within 15 km of Attock bridge.
To understand its harm you need to know that water needs slope for flow. reviewed design of Kalabagh will decrease the slope of Indus river within Attock gorge by 80%. as a result water flow speed will decrease by about 8 time. During a flood, it is almost like shutting down a river, and upstream rivers will start flooding their banks. In a flood like 2010, it can destroy Major population of KPK.
Kalbagh dam design has a design bug. Its Spillways design flow is measured at peak pondage level. which is itself a nightmare scenario, where river will stop flowing upstream.
No spillways will work here, because a door can never be bigger than its wall.
Can you please tell what effects will it have on the surrounding areas climate including rainfall and will it affect the capital
ReplyDeleteassalamoaleakum
ReplyDeletei read your article,its really very good,but i have more economical solution,we can connect jehlam river to soan stream near kahota .its the most closest point,its a soan river stream there.what u think for flood control for this issue?i think it will multiply the flood control streangth for both rivers,so as u said by indus and my point of jehlam river.it will change the whole thing. i am looking for ur replay 313baberali@gmail.com
Putting Jhelum River water into Soan near Kahuta will render Mangla useless. Besides, the flooding due to Indus is not addressed by this diversion. My question from Engineer Inam ur Rehman is about the probable cost of construction and rehabilitation of displaced population. How much of the population would have to be displaced? What time frames are we talking about? Land acquisition, rehabilitation included? (Don't forget the studies required before undertaking such mega projects). Roughly what would be the FE component, which has to be raised from international sources,and can't be done without bankable studies.
ReplyDeleteWhere can we review or study the environmental impact and the mitigation of, with concern to flora and fauna?
ReplyDelete