Indus River

Indus River
Indus River

World map

Map

Begins as an icy stream in Himalayas
Facts about the River

Facts about the River
• Begins as an icy stream in Himalayas
• Major river of Pakistan
• Five Other rivers
• Flow of the river varies; minimum (December to February) and maximum
(July to September)
• Main supply of drinking water in Pakistan
• Provides key water resources for the economy of Pakistan
• Length 3200 km
• Total Drainage area 1,165,000 km square
• Largest river in Pakistan, 9 th in Asia and 21 st in the World
• One of the few rivers that exhibit a tidal bore

River Characteristics
• Length 1,800 miles
• Total drainage area 450,000 square miles
• 175,000 square miles is in Himalayan ranges
• Annual flow rate is about 207 billion cubic metres
• Twice that of Nile river
• Depth is 15,000 to 17,000 feet or 4,600 to 5,200 metres
• Width is 12 to 16 miles
• Average discharge 6,600 cubic metres per seconds
• Main tributaries: Jhelum, Sutlej, Beas, Ravi and Chenab
• Source: Singikabab, River Sutlej, Gar rivers

Water Level and supply
• Water level is at its lowest from mid
December to mid February
• Annually the upper Indus carries about 110
billion cubic metres

Geology

Geology
• Feeds the Indus submarine fan
• 5 million cubic kilometres
• 5 million years ago Indus river was connected
to the River Ganges in India
• Massive amounts of erosion are bringing
lower crustal rocks to the surface

Geology

Plant and Wildlife

Plant and Wildlife
• In Sindh on the lower Indus, desert conditions
prevail 10 to 25 miles away from the river
• Area is dominated by sand and poor grass
cover.

Effects of climate change in the river
• Tibetan Plateau contains the world’s 3 rd largest
store of ice
• Temperatures are rising four times faster than
elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are
retreating at a higher speed than in any other
part of the world... In the short term, this will
cause lakes to expand and bring floods and
mudflows.. In the long run, the glaciers are vital
lifelines of the Indus River. Once they vanish,
water supplies in Pakistan will be in peril.”

Flooding
• Prone to flooding in summer
• Floods are unpredictable
• During flood the banks of the river can
collapse

2010 flood

2010 Flood
• Abnormally heavy monsoon rains
• Rain continued for the next two months
• Western Punjab area where about 570,000ha
of cropland was destroyed

Places affected by flood

Flood Disaster summary
• More than 20 million people have been affected,
and the toll is rising.
• Thousands of people have been killed or injured.
• 3.5 million children face waterborne diseases.
• A quarter of Pakistan land area, including its
agricultural heartland, has been inundated.
• Up to 3.5 million hectares of crops have been
destroyed.
• At least a million homes destroyed or damaged.

Flood control in Pakistan
• Pakistan doesn’t have a flood control system due to lack of storage
capacity and absence of known practical options
• Existing dams and proposed kalabagh dam is too small to handle
the amount of inflow in 2010 flood
• Kalabagh could have stored only 7.5% of total water but not
without upstream damage in Nowshera and above
• In future, due to global warming, region expects increased
frequency and intensity of flash floods coupled with higher glacier
melt runoff.
• In the absence of a comprehensive plan, such floods can hit the
backbone of country’s economy after every few years
• This was not the last flood. Floods will most likely happen again, in a
year, or a decade or later. No one can say it will never happen again.

Pakistan Flood Control System (PFCS)
• Some options have been suggested by Pakistan Flood
Control System
• PFCS is a flood control system designed for Pakistan
that offers control for extreme floods in the Indus river.
• It contains a system of five dams for flood control
(Soan, Rohtas, Khyber, Bhit and Nari Bolan) and three
canals. (Soan link Canal, Grand Indus canal and
optional Makran Canal)
• Soan Dam is the core of PFCS, Other dams will help but
Soan dam alone can successfully handle floods like
2010

Pakistan Flood Control System (PFCS)
• Soan dam sets foundation for radical changes in Pakistan’s flood
control and irrigation paradigm by allowing distributed system of
large local multipurpose projects, Dynamic allocation of water and
coordinated flood harvesting are some of the other main features
• Proposed dams increase water storage capacity of Pakistan by
64.4%. Apart from total flood control, PFCS will play a role of
“Water bank of Pakistan”, to ensure right amount of water at right
time for all provinces, according to already defined respective water
share.
• PFCS is designed around historical peak floods in country with 50%
plus safety factor
• Last but not least, PFCS doesn’t need the Kalabagh dam. Instead it
adresses Kalabagh dam’s potential drawbacks positively due to
effective flood control in all four provinces, lack of water diversion
and decentralization of water & Power storage

A look around the world
• What has been done to prevent flooding

Prevents flooding in England

Prevents flood in Japan

Preventing flood in Holland

Preventing flood in Holland or
Netherland

Pakistan Flood Control System (PFCS)
• By taking solid steps, Pakistan can change such
disasters into a blessing by saving possibly
$30-50 billions of flood damage per decade
and earning much bigger amount by increased
agricultural productivity, extra power
generation and food security

Thank You