Ladakh, Sept 05: India has taken a major step towards alleviating water scarcity faced by farming communities in Ladakh and strengthening the use of water from the Indus River in border areas.
India has built the country’s first ‘rock check dam’ across the Indus River at Upshi in Leh. This will further reduce the flow of river water into Pakistan. Built entirely using natural rocks and without cement, the dam has raised the water level of the river by about 10 feet.
The dam has enabled farmers, who have been facing water scarcity for a long time during the sowing season, to easily irrigate their fields. For the past several years, the river flowed in deep valleys and the local farmers were facing severe difficulties in growing crops as they could not lift water through agricultural pumps.
Soil erosion and silt control:
This rock barrier acts as a primary barrier to prevent soil erosion and control the further flow of silt caused by the heavy flow of the Indus River. Instead of the traditional large concrete dams, it is built using local stones and natural materials. It does not completely block the natural flow of the river.
Benefit to the local community:
The main objective of this project is to seasonally intercept the water that flows and is wasted during the period of melting glaciers, and to make water easily available to the surrounding villagers for agriculture and daily use.
Speciality of the dam:
This new dam has a capacity to store about 40 million liters of water, which is supplying water to the dry land of the villages through the ‘Igoo Fae’ irrigation canal. This project has not only helped local agriculture but also sent a strong message to Pakistan. In the wake of India’s abrogation of the Indus Water Treaty, Pakistan has been dealt a further blow as it is using the river’s water for the development of its own communities in the border area before it reaches Pakistan.
The Ladakh administration is working to construct more such check dams across the Indus River, with work already underway at some places and many more projects in the pipeline. The Ladakh administration has submitted proposals for a total of 36 check dam projects to the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti with a view to increasing water security and expanding irrigation capacity in the union territory.