Muhammad Khan Sial is right that Kalabagh dam would not have been able to control floods of the present magnitude. But his argument that it would not be able to store flood waters even during the normal high floods that we have every year, is totally wrong. He keeps talking of some technical reasons without saying what they are. Kalabagh dam would moderate the (normal) high floods every year saving a lot of damage to life and property. It is not some people of Punjab, as Mr Sial would have us believe, who are saying this. Foreign, local, even the World Bank consultants, have carried out extensive studies for 10 years before declaring the project technically and financially viable. Does Mr Sial know more than these experts about the 'technical aspects of Kalabagh dam? Mr Sial is also completely ignoring the fact that dams are primarily built for irrigation and power generation and flood control is just an added advantage. It is ridiculous to suggest that Kalabagh should not be built because it would not be able to control floods. What about the 6.1 million acre feet of water and 3600 megawatts of power which, if we had today, would have taken us out of this power and water crisis? Pakistan is storing only 9 percent of the waters provided by its rivers. This, while per capita, per annum availability of water in this country has dropped from a high of 5000 cubic meters to 1200 cubic metersbarely above the water-scarcity level. Pakistan has contingency reserves of only 30 days, leaving it at the mercy of India. Unless the redundant storage, lets call it 'dead storage, is replaced with 'live storage, we would end up with no storage at all. Without storage, there would be too much of water for three months and too little for nine months. Regulated supplies to the lower riparian would simply not be possible which means that regulated supplies to the Indus delta would not be possible. There will no transfer from wet to dry period, hence, no water for Rabi sowing. There will be no transfer from wet year (as at present) to dry year which means it would not be possible to regulate power generation. The country would have hydel power for only three months, which means the industry would have hydel power for only three months. What is worse that we have zero reserve for any contingency, natural (like Hunza) or man made (like India)? It is unthinkable that Pakistan could go back to the situation that existed before Mangla and Tarbela dams were built. It is high time to start working for replacing their 'dead capacity. -KHURSHID ANWER, Lahore, August 20.