Namal Lake ( ur, نمل جھیل) is located near Rikhi, a village on one corner of the Namal valley in

Mianwali District The Mianwali District ( ur, ), is a district located in Sargodha Division of Punjab province, Pakistan. It was separated from NWFP in 1901, and has a border with the Chakwal, Attock,Kohat, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Bhakkar, an ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. It was formed following the construction of Namal Dam in . Namal Dam is situated some from Mianwali city. The lake has a surface area of . There are

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

s on its western and southern sides. On the other two sides are

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

areas.

History

In 1913, British engineers, to meet the scarcity of

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

and drinking water, built a dam on this Namal lake and irrigated lands up to Mianwali city. But with the passage of time and construction of

Thal Canal The Thal desert (Urdu, Punjabi: ) is situated at 31°10’ N and 71°30’ E in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Located near the Pothohar Plateau, the area falls under the Indomalayan biogeographic realm and stretches for a length of approximat ...

and installation of

tube well A tube well is a type of water well in which a long, -wide, stainless steel tube or pipe is bored underground. The lower end is fitted with a strainer, and a pump lifts water for irrigation. The required depth of the well depends on the dep ...

s, its utility of water squeezed up to some limit. The gates of the dam are repaired by the irrigation department regularly but without enthusiasm. The hill torrents and rains fill the Namal Lake round the year. Due to a drought-like situation in the country, this lake dried up last year, which is the first incident of its kind during the last 100 years.Presently, its condition is very bad.

Namal Canal

The Nammal Canal was opened in December 1913. It received The Namal water from a lake of dam constructed across a gorge canal between Nammal and Musa-Khel. The tail of the canal was at Mianwali, where it conveys water to lands in the Civil Station. The canal was included under schedule-1 of the Minor Canals Act of 1905 by Punjab Government notification No. 84, dated the 9th June 1914.

References

External links

Namal Valley

Namal Mianwali website
Lakes of Punjab (Pakistan) Mianwali District {{Waters of Pakistan

History

Namal Canal

See also

References

External links