MUZAFFARABAD: On hot summer evenings, Khawaja Magbool Hadieri’s family used to sit on their home’s balcony and relish the cool breeze wafting off the nearby Neelum river.
But these days, after 80 per cent of the river’s flow was diverted for hydropower, “we’re sweating while sitting there, even using an electric fan”, Hadieri, 70, a resident of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir capital, said.
As Pakistan seeks new sources of green energy, officials are diverting rivers through tunnels to harness clean hydropower.
But the diversions are also causing a range of problems, from hotter urban temperatures to water shortages and sewage buildups in riverbeds once rushing with water.
MUZAFFARABAD: On hot summer evenings, Khawaja Magbool Hadieri’s family used to sit on their home’s balcony and relish the cool breeze wafting off the nearby Neelum river.
But these days, after 80 per cent of the river’s flow was diverted for hydropower, “we’re sweating while sitting there, even using an electric fan”, Hadieri, 70, a resident of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir capital, said.
As Pakistan seeks new sources of green energy, officials are diverting rivers through tunnels to harness clean hydropower.
But the diversions are also causing a range of problems, from hotter urban temperatures to water shortages and sewage buildups in riverbeds once rushing with water.