Strategic Analysis on Water Resources in Pakistan. Water Resources of Pakistan. Pakistan water resources. Strategic Analysis of Water Resources in Pakistan.

1. Pakistan Studies
Presentation On:
Strategic Analysis of Water Resources in
Pakistan

2. Water Resources on Pakistan
Water is an essential element for survival of
living things. It is vital factor for economic
development for batter growth of
agriculture and industry. Since
independence our country constructed only
two big dams i.e. Tarbela and Mangla.

3. Introduction
Water is one of the basic necessities of life. The usage of water can
be divided in three broad categories i.e. domestic consumption,
commercial/industrial use and usage for land irrigation.
Water is also important element of the world’s ecological system.
God has gifted Pakistan with abundant water resources, with rivers
flowing down the Himalayas and Karakoram heights from the
world’s largest glaciers and free and unique bounty for this land.
Pakistan is basically an agrarian economy. Out of its total
geographical area of 79.61 million hectares, cultivated area is 22.05
million hectares. The total area under irrigation is 19.02 million
hectares (Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan 2005-06). Irrigated land
supplies more than 90 percent of agricultural production and most
of the country food. Agriculture sector is regarded as the backbone
of the Pakistan’s economy.

4. The water from these dams and reservoirs is not only used
for irrigation and supplying water for daily consumption,
but also used for hydroelectric power generation.
Water Resources of Pakistan
There are two types of major resources of water in
Pakistan, natural and artificial. Natural resources include
rainfall, rivers, glaciers, ponds, lakes, streams, karez and
wells etc Whereas artificial resources consist of the surface
water from rainfall and rivers, which is in excess of the
requirements for irrigation and other uses, is stored in
dams and reservoirs.

5. Main Resources
* Rainfall.
* Glaciers.
* Rivers and Dams.
* Surface water resources.
* Ground water resources.
* Soon after the initiation of the SCARP
program.
* Future of water resources and needs.

6. * Rainfall
There are two major sources of rainfall in Pakistan i.e. the
Monsoons and the Western Disturbances. There is about 70
percent of the annual Monsoon rainfall from July to
September. Pakistan has both arid and semi-arid zones.
The entire Indus plain receives an average seasonal rainfall
of 212mm and 53mm in the Kharif and Rabi seasons
respectively.
The rainfall varies as we move from the north and
northeast to the south of the country. It is only the canal
command areas in the KPK and the northern-most canal
commands of the Punjab Province that receive some
appreciable amount of rainfall during the summer as well
as in the winter season.

7. Pakistan has greatest mass and collection of
glaciers on the earth. In Karakoram Range, the total
length of glaciers is 160 km. About 37 percent of
the Karakoram area is under its glacier, Himalayas
has17 percent and European Alps has 22 percent.
* Glaciers
There are more glaciers in Pakistan than any other
land except North and South Poles. The glacier area
of Pakistan is about 13,680 sq km and on the
average is 3 percent of mountainous region of upper
Indus Basin and accounts for most of the river
turnoff in summer.

8. * Rivers and Dams
Pakistan has been blessed with a number of rivers which
are tributaries to the Indus. The five main rivers which join
Indus from eastern side are Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas
and Sutlej, beside three minor rivers are the Haro, Soan
and Siran.
There are number of small rivers which join the River
Indus from the west side, in which biggest river is Kabul
and others are Kunar, Punj, and Kora. The Gomal Kurram,
Tai, Kohat Tank and several other small streams join the
Indus River from the right side.

9. The right of three eastern rivers (Beas, Sutlej, and Ravi)
was given to India under Irrigation Water Treaty 1960,
during this period; Indus Basin Project (IBP) was
implemented with international assistance of the World
Bank. IBP enabled Pakistan to acquire significant
capability of river flow through integrated system.
* Surface water resources
Irrigated agriculture was, still is, and will remain in future
the backbone of Pakistan's economy. Nature has blessed
Pakistan with abundant surface and subsurface water
resources. These resources had been exploited and utilized
for agricultural, domestic, and industrial purposes in the
past and will continue to be explored in future. The river
Indus and its tributaries provide the surface water.

10. * Ground water resources
The Indus plains constitute about 34 million hectares (over 85
million acres) of cultivable land, which is under-lain predominantly
by sand alluvium to a considerable depth. Ground water is also
found in some rain-fed (Barani) lands, and intermountain valleys at
depths varying from 100 to 200 ft. During 1950s, large area in the
Indus basin became waterlogged and soil salinity increased adversely
affecting the agricultural productivity. It was the time when
government got involved and took initiatives in the ground water
development.
During past four decades, about 15000 SCARP tube wells have been
installed by the Government in 57 projects covering a gross area of
about 7.7 million hectares affected land for putting it back into
production. The tube wells installed in the fresh ground water areas
have been pumping water directly into watercourses thus, they are
being used for irrigation in addition to canal water.

11. All of the 400000 private tube wells have been installed in fresh
ground water zones and are being used for irrigation purposes. About
80 per cent of these tube wells are located in Punjab and supply
around 40 per cent of total irrigation in the province.
* Soon after the initiation of the SCARP program
Large-scale development of ground water was started by the private
tube wells. According to latest reports issued by the Government of
Pakistan, the number of private tube wells has increased from 27000
to over 400000 during period between 1964 and 1995. All of the
400000 private tube wells have been installed in fresh ground water
zones and are being used for irrigation purposes. About 80 per cent
of these tube wells are located in Punjab and supply around 40 per
cent of total irrigation in the province.

12. * Future of water resources and needs
One of the key issues to Pakistan is the growing population pressure,
which is responsible for driving its water resource development.
It has the world's fastest growing population that has surpassed the
140 million mark by now and is still increasing at an alarming rate of
around 2.8%, which needs to be checked, whereas the growth rate in
agriculture sector remains somehow lower than the demand due to
limiting irrigation water.
Since no additional water is available, it is better to improve the
existing water system and land capabilities otherwise, Pakistan will
be facing acute shortages of food, fiber, and edible oils in near
future. It is time to recognize our responsibilities and start taking
steps in right direction. We must keep eye on the issues such as, poor
water application & water distribution, depletion of ground water
resources, reduction in storage capacities of existing system, and
wastage of summer river surpluses and slow agricultural growth.

13. Development potential and future
strategies
* Improve surface storage capacity :
According to a report of working group on water resources for the
7th five year plan (1987), no new storage have been created after
the completion of Tarbela due to rising controversies over the
construction of such reservoirs. Thus, it has become necessary to
focus on small size irrigation schemes (storage on rivers). There is a
need to construct small dams on rivers Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, and
their small tributaries. The potential sites for these small
reservoirs/dams need to be surveyed.
Another option is to manage the existing irrigation system in a
better way and undertake new schemes wherever possible. The
development of the country depends on water resources expansion and
management.

14. The ground water table has already started declining in 14
out of 45 canal commands. Due to over-exploitation of this
resource, the sustainability of irrigated agriculture is facing
a new threat in some of the canal commands in Punjab.
This situation needs to be checked and addressed urgently.
Conjunctive use of ground water
Conjunctive use refers to the co-ordinate, combined,
creative exploitation, and judicious use of ground water for
sustained development. It deals with neither over
extraction nor under extraction of the source. This option
has technically and economically been considered as the
most viable strategy in the past studies.

15. Increase the efficiency of existing system
The unchecked growth of population has increased pressure on land
and water resources throughout the world thus, it has become
difficult to conserve our water supplies. Several reports have shown
that about 25 to 30% of the water is being lost in the conveyance
system of the different countries of the world. A considerable amount
of water is lost during its conveyance due to seepage in lengthy
canals; lining of the system channels could reduce these losess.
Irrigation water could be saved by lining the minor canals only.
However, due to financial constraints, it is not possible to line entire
canal system thus, the portions with high potential of seepage and
those located in the areas with high salt content could be lined, by
doing so, not only huge quantities of irrigation water could be saved
but also the risk of water logging and salinity could be reduced. This
would result in saving of huge investments that otherwise are
required for drainage projects.

16. Water Demand and Availability
The level of agricultural production is directly related to the
availability and effective use of water as a major input. The demand
for water is increasing rapidly, while there is no opportunities for
further development of water resources. In Pakistan half of the run
water (it is water falls on the country is collected in river, lakes and
dams) is drawn about as much gain from the underground spin
aquifer. By 2025 water demand would be 92 percent entire runoff. It
is estimated that 25 percent about has been destroyed due to salinity.
For irrigation purpose, only one third of water is used. . This has
made imperative to work out an efficient and equitable management
strategy about Indus Basin. There has been growing realization to
economize water. Through using best cultivation techniques for
proper water management.

17. The Irrigation System of Pakistan
The irrigation system of Pakistan is the largest integrated irrigation
network in the world, serving 42 million acres of cultivated land.
This system is fed by the water of the Indus River and its tributaries.
The salient features of the irrigation system are given below:
Salient Features of Irrigation System
of Pakistan
Structure No.
Major Storage Reservoirs 03
Small Dams (Apex. 3.00 MAF) 80
Barrages 19
Inter-River Link Canals 12
Independent Irrigation Canal
Commands
45

18. Conservation of Water Resources in Pakistan
Scarcity of water and drought has been compelled the
countries to adopt the conservation measures. In the scare
water situation, Islam do not permits unnecessary
utilization of water. Scrolling the pages of Islamic history,
we witness the struggle of Hazrat Hajira for water under
blazing sun in the burning desert and sprouting of water
spring from the rocky soil as a gift from Allah.
The efforts for search of water was so much liked by the
Almighty Allah that it has become a fundamental part of
Hajj till the Day of Judgment.

19. Moreover, cessation of water with stones to avoid its wastage and stocking
it for long time besides saying “Zam Zam “means “stop” was the first step
towards water storage, which led to concept for construction of dams. The
construction of dams in Pakistan is imperative, as only two dams have
been constructed after 1947, whereas, India and Turkey has constructed
24 and 65 dams respectively during the same period.
The details of the prospective storage projects are given in below:
Name of Project Storage Capacity
(MAF)
Installed
Capacity
(MW)
Status
Live Gross
Basha Dam 6.4 7.30 4500 Engineering Design (Under
Preparation)
Kalabagh Dam 6.10 7.90 3600 Ready for Implementation
Skardu Dam - - 4000 Under Feasibility Study
Akhori Dam
Akhori Dam 3.60 7.00 600 -do-
Munda Dam 0.56 1.00 600 Engineering Design (Under
Preparation)

20. In order to overcome the challenge of water shortage and its losses, it has become
imperative to work on the lines of “Blue Revolution” which is threshold of the
strategy meant for making use of more effective techniques and obtaining optimum
results for reduction in water losses. The definition of “Blue Revolution” has been
coined as a system of drip irrigation that delivers water directly to the roots of
crops by cutting use of water by 30 to 70 percent and raising crop yield on the
average by 20 to 90 percent.
Water Conservation Strategy
To work out a sound and cogent water conservation strategy is the need of the time, as
demand for water continues to rise because of increasing use of water in agriculture and
industry for the purpose of economic development and due to rapid growth of population,
whereas there is limited supply of water. Water management is the biggest challenge of 21st
century confronted by the country, as irrigated agriculture is 24 percent of GDP, the
livelihood for the majority of country and input of agro based industry/exports. It has been
made known that a considerable amount of water is lost during its 14 conveyance for the
seepage in the lengthy canals. Proper lining of the canal system could reduce these losses.

21. Strategic Analysis:
1) New Dams require extensive benefit sharing-especially those
that are contentious
2) Climate change is forcing response in water sector-it has to be
both demand and supply side driven
3) Undertake research on development, management,
conservation, utilization and quality of water resources.
4) Develop and maintain National Water Resources Database
Design, develop and evaluate water conservation technologies.
5) Undertake contractual research and provide consultancy
services to the private and public sector.
6) Advise the government and submit policy recommendations
regarding quality, development, management, conservation and
utilization of water resources.

22. 7) Develop and maintain national water resources database, for use
by the planning, implementing agencies and public.
8) Design, develop and evaluate water conservation technologies for
irrigation, drinking and industrial water.
9) Initiate national water quality monitoring program, in the urban
and rural areas of Pakistan and develop technologies for providing
safe drinking water to the public.
10) Conduct and coordinate research or desertification, drought and
flood mitigation.

23. Also implementation of the recommendations will
enable the country to meet the challenges, and
achieve the objectives of integrated, efficient,
environmentally and financially sustainable
development and management of limited water
resources. At the same time it will enable us to
utilize every drop of our water for our bright future.
Conclusion
The problems faced by the water sector in the
country are many, acute and serious. Therefore,
building of more reservoirs and an effective
management strategy are the needs of time.