At a time when the country is facing its worst energy crisis, the apathy of the Sindh government could be gauged from the fact that it has yet to launch the Rs 176 million Water Master Plan for the vast coal reserves in Thar that was approved by the Provincial Development Working Party in January 2007, Pakistan Today has learnt. Sources said that this important scheme also included conducting studies regarding water supply and wastewater management, but no progress has been made so far. Being a desert, the Tharparkar district is an arid region with scanty rainfall and limited water resources. Uninterrupted water supply for development of coal mines and power plants is vital for coal-based electricity generation for the country.
According to an investigation report, the coal is in seams of extractable thickness up to 22 metres at a depth of minimum 110 metres and maximum 200 metres. Besides, the upper seam layer of coal reserves contains in-situ water, the report added. However, sources said, there are no systematic hydro-geological studies of in-situ groundwater in terms of quantity or quality. “Testing some water samples at the Drainage Reclamation Centre in Tando Jam revealed that the groundwater has an electrical conductivity in the range equivalent to or more than the raw seawater,” they added. They said that the groundwater qualities are saline in all aquifers with dominant sodium chloride contents. “For coal mining, the saline water from the upper layers of coal seam is likely to be drained out.”
It is difficult to estimate the amount of effluent that would be generated, and it requires proper planning for disposal as the effluent would be highly saline and polluted, sources said.
They also said that a water pipeline for domestic supply to the existing towns and villages of Tharparkar has been constructed from one of the Naukot distributaries of the Mithrao canal.
They further said that in November 2009, the provincial government had asked the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority to complete the project of freshwater supply from Nabisar canal to the Thar coalfields within the shortest possible time. However, they added, the scheme was put on the back burner due to apathy of the authorities concerned.
Moreover, the Sindh government has recently floated the Expression of Interest for these studies through the World Bank-assisted Thar Coal and Power Technical Assistance Project, they said.
Electricity could only be properly generated from the vast reserves of Thar coal if the provincial government ensures smooth supply of water to the coalfields in the future, sources said. The scheme was put into cold storage due to unwillingness of the bureaucracy, they added.
