For the last few decades, the country has been caught in emotive debate on large dams, especially Kalabagh dam that forestalled any consensus on any of them. Apart from delaying mega projects, the debate also took national focus away from small dams the last one was built in 1996.

During these years, Punjab thought small dams were being projected as an alternative to large dams and stopped advocating, rather resisting, them. The smaller provinces' advocacy for such dams only made Punjab more obdurate. The recent ECNEC decision has thus broken the 13-year inertia, which can only be welcomed.

Apart from these 10 dams, two more - Hingol dam in Balochistan and Sita dam in Sindh - are only days away from being approved, taking the tally to 12 in phase-I (2009-12). As per official record, these 12 dams would jointly hold around 2.5 million acre feet of water and produce 20.84MW power. Their internal economic rate of return (IERR) ranges between 15 to 18 per cent, which has been calculated at Rs82 billion as per the PC-I, in six to seven years.

The 2.5maf water, which makes half of big dam, should be sufficient to irrigate over 300,000 acres with traditional flood irrigation. However, if it is used for pressure (sprinkle and drip) irrigation, the acreage could easily be doubled, even tripled.

The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), has moved quickly on these dams and finalised their execution plans. Wapda seems to have found renewed vigour for water projects ever since it got separated from its power wing (Pepco). The residual Wapda, exclusively in-charge of water projects, is now moving simultaneously on many projects. Fortunately,it has local expertise available for small dams. One hopes the government keeps building such dams on all 750 identified sites, and Wapda maintains its current momentum.

It is not to argue that these dams are alternative to big reservoirs, because they are not. The reverse is, however, true as well. Bigger dams are not alternative to small dams as well when it comes to local development and poverty alleviation. Both types of dams supplement and complement each other, and Pakistan, being a proud host of fifth largest catchments in the world, should build all kinds of dams - big, medium and small.

Small dams, economic experts believe, have proven an effective tool for poverty alleviation in their areas. They bring immediate economic prosperity at local level. In Pakistan also, most of these dams fall in either very poor or marginal areas like Awaran and Kharan in Balochistan or poverty-stricken interior Sindh.

Agriculture experts claim that their IERR could be multiplied with more judicious use of water and improved cropping pattern. These dams make ideal case for high efficiency irrigation for a number of reasons, which include topography, water supply and virgin lands.

These dams are located in hilly areas, which provide natural pressure required for drip and sprinkle irrigation. In the plains, water has to be pumped to a higher place and flow it down to generate pressure in the pipes. In these areas, it is a natural phenomenon that could bring cost of production down by saving on electricity.

Land around these dams is not fully exploited, even totally virgin, and of high fertility, which open a huge window of economic opportunity for local population. The government must help local farmers to take maximum benefits of the window. For maximising the benefits, farming around these dams must be adjusted to new world economic and market realities -sowing high-value exportable crops (horticulture and floriculture) for high-end markets instead of wasting it to traditional low-economy crops.

Currently, only six per cent of total cultivable land is under horticulture despite a huge niche that Pakistan can carve for itself in $800 billion horticulture industry worldwide. These dams provide the best opportunity for increasing exports of horticulture.

Cotton could be one of the options. Since its traditional pests have not reached these virgin lands, cotton area can be easily expanded. India has taken most of its cotton crop to non-core (rain-fed) areas and increased its production from 17 million bales to 30 million bales. Pakistan can follow the suite and increase its production by at least four to five million bales.

The pressure to use this water extra carefully also comes from the absence of any historical data on feeding sources of the dams. There is no, or highly sketchy, water flow data available on the tributaries of these dams. Thus, there is no way one could plan agriculture on assured water supply every year. There is a possibility, even probability, that water might not be available, at least at desired level. Thus, whatever is available should be used very judicially, counting each and every drop.

The government has moved in the right direction but gains - local poverty alleviation and economic prosperity - from small dams could only be fully achieved if it takes the required technology and extension services to these areas by the time these dams are complete. They must be equipped with required knowledge of their soil and crop protocol and technology to fully exploit benefits by the time these dams are filled first time.

Otherwise, the government and farmers run the risk of repeating Mirani dam mistake, which stands completed but there are no takers of water because land, which was supposed to be irrigated, has not been prepared nor are there any farmers to benefit from the water. The dam instead floods adjoining areas whenever it gets filled.