Water Resources situation in Pakistan

A Lecture To Students

ByMr. Allah Dad Khan

SOURCES OF WATER

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. 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. 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.

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 NWFP and the northern-most canal commands of the Punjab Province that receive some appreciable amount of rainfall during the summer as wall as in the winter season.

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. Pakistan has greatest mass and collection of glassiers 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.

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

4 from the west side, in which biggest river is Kabul and

others are Kunar, Punj, Kora. The Gomal Kurram, Tai, Kohat Tank and several other small streams

join the Indus River from the right side.

Storage Loss of Reservoirs

Source: MTDF 2005-10

Reservoir Original GrossStorage Capacity (MAF)

Storage Loss by the Year 2003 (MAF)

Stor age Loss b(Projected) (MAF) Year 2010

Terbela 11.62 (1974) 3.14 (27%) 3.95 (34%)

Chashma 0.87 (1971) 0.37 (43%) 0.48(55%)

Mangla 5.88 (1967) 1.18 (20%) 1.60 (27%)

SOURCES OF WATER

Indus Basin River

The Indus river basin constitutes of the mountain basins Indus plain, Karachi plains and desert areas of Sindh. Its source of water is snowing, glacier melting and rainfalls.

Closed basin Kharan desert

It consists of areas of mountain basins of Quetta. Its main sources of water are rainfall and nominal snow.

Makran coastal basin Makran coastal basin constitutes of streams of Malir, Hub,

Porali, Hingol, and Kech. Its main source of water is rainfall.

Groundwater resources

Estimated groundwater resources

Source: National Water Policy, Vol. II, January 2002.

Province Million acre/feet

Billion m3

Punjab 43.2 52.8Sindh 18.4 22.5Balochistan 2.1 2.5KPK 3.1 3.8Total 66.8 81.6

Water reservoirs

Pakistan is having three basic reservoirs, namely mangla dam reservoir, Terbela dam reservoir and Chashma barrage reservoir. More small reservoirs like Warsak, Khanpur and Kinjhar lake Are also included as small storage.

 

Utilization Of Water 

Irrigation

Out of 240.22 maf, 172.21 maf water is utilized for

irrigation purposes.

Drinking

Most of the rural and urban water is supplied from ground water through tube wells and hand pumps. Net consumption is normally about 2% of the total water available.

Industry Water is also utilized in Industries basically for

cooling purposes and also in manufacturing processes. This utility is less than 1%.

Shortage of water

As we all know that now a days our country is facing severe shortage of water. There are two main reasons, one natural due to prolong drought---which is beyond the control of a man, and the other due to the gross negligence in the development and miss-management of water resources.

Impact on economy / society

Less water means less agricultural yields and to fulfill the food requirements of the nation, we will be dependent on other countries.

Due to less production of main crops, which are wheat, cotton, sugar cane and rice, the Industries related to them will suffer adversely

Less agricultural outputs will compel people to head towards urban areas for jobs, which will increase the unemployment further.

The distribution of water is controlled from the center by irsa (Indus river system authority) as per 1991 agreement between the provinces. Now the shortage of water will cause disputes between the provinces, which may cause harm to the national integrity.

Water Issue between Pakistan & India

Concern is growing in Pakistan that India is controlling the water flow of rivers that flow from India into Pakistan.

Pakistan has raised objections to Indian water projects, but a World Bank-appointed neutral expert rejected most of the Pakistani objections.

Pakistani commentators, think that India is controlling the river waters to strangulate Pakistani agriculture, which could affect Pakistani exports and increase its dependency on food imports.

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. 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.

The End