History of Irrigaon 6000 BC Irrigaon began at about the same me in Egypt and Mesopotamia (present day Iraq and Iran) using the water of the flooding Nile or Tigris/Euphrates rivers. The flood waters, which occurred July through December, were diverted to fields for 40 to 60 days. The water was then drained back into the river at the right moment in the growing cycle. 3500 BC Nilometer:- Water Level Measurement The annual flood season along the Nile was unpredictable without records, so the Egypans created a flood gauge called the Nilometer. The simplest design was a vercal column submerged in the river with marked intervals indicang the depth of the river. A second design was a flight of stairs leading into the river. The nilometer data was then used by the ancient Egypan priesthood who myscally predicted when the flood would occur. 3100 BC The first major irrigaon project was created under King Menes during Egypt’s First Dynasty. He and his successors used dams and canals (one measuring 20 km) to use the diverted flood waters of the Nile into a new lake called lake "Moeris." 2000 BC Cement pipe Cross-secon of pipe made with cement and crushed rock by the Romans to carry water. Similar pipe was used a century ago to carry domesc water into the San Gabriel Valley of California. 1792 BC (1792-1750 BC) Water Regulaons:- Babylonian King Hammurabi; was the first to instute water regulaons within his kingdom. This early code covered: A) The distribuon of water proporonally based on the acres farmed. B) A farmer’s responsibilies in maintaining canals on his property. C) The collecve administraon of the canal by all users 1700 BC Irrigaon Shaduf Shaduf / Shadouf / Shadoof
Transcript
History of Irrigation6000 BC
Irrigation began at about the same time in Egypt and Mesopotamia (present day Iraq and Iran) using the water of the flooding Nile or Tigris/Euphrates rivers. The flood waters, which occurred July through December, were diverted to fields for 40 to 60 days. The water was then drained back into the river at the right moment in the
growing cycle.
3500 BC
Nilometer:-
Water Level Measurement
The annual flood season along the Nile was unpredictable without records, so the Egyptians created a flood gauge called the Nilometer. The simplest design was a vertical column submerged in the river with marked intervals indicating the depth of the river. A second design was a flight of stairs leading into the river. The
nilometer data was then used by the ancient Egyptian priesthood who mystically predicted when the flood would occur.
3100 BC
The first major irrigation project was created under King Menes during Egypt’s First Dynasty. He and his successors used dams and canals (one measuring 20 km) to use the diverted flood waters of the Nile into a
new lake called lake "Moeris."
2000 BC
Cement pipe
Cross-section of pipe made with cement and crushed rock by the Romans to carry water. Similar pipe was used a century ago to carry domestic water into the San Gabriel Valley of California.
1792 BC
(1792-1750 BC)
Water Regulations:-Babylonian King Hammurabi; was the first to institute water regulations within his kingdom. This early code
covered: A) The distribution of water proportionally based on the acres farmed. B) A farmer’s responsibilities in maintaining canals on his property. C) The collective administration of the canal by all users
1700 BC
Irrigation Shaduf
Shaduf / Shadouf / Shadoof
(Shadoof) A large pole balanced on a crossbeam, a rope and bucket on one end and a heavy counter weight at the other. By pulling the rope it lowered the bucket into a canal or river. The operator would then raise the full
bucket of water by pushing down on the counter weight. The pole could be swung around and the bucket emptied in a field or different canal. This development enabled irrigation when a river wasn’t in flood which
meant higher ground could be used for farming.
700 BC
Noria
(700-600 BC)
(Egyptian Water Wheel) A wheel with buckets or clay pots along its circumference, the wheel was turned by the current of the river. The flow filled buckets by immersion and as it rotated the upper buckets are emptied by gravity into a trough or aqueduct. The empty buckets then returned to be refilled. The Noria provided the
ancient world with its first non-human operated lifting device.
604 BC(604-562 BC)
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The "Hanging Gardens of Babylon," one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, were created under King Nebuchadnezzar in Mesopotamia. What is lost to history is how the gardens were watered although it is
known they were irrigated.
550 BC
Qanat(550-331 BC)
(Kareze in Mesopotamia) The development of this technique allowed the use of ground water to become the primary source for crop irrigation. A Qanat was built by first digging a vertical well into sloping ground. Once
the well was completed a tunnel was dug nearly horizontal to the lower end of the well. The natural slope would allow well water to travel by gravity down the tunnel and emerge some distance down slope from the
well. Construction of Qanats was labor intensive and vertical openings were placed every 20-30 meters to allow the tunnel diggers to breathe and to remove the debris from the tunnel. Once the tunnel was
completed, the area had a constant source of water. Qanats are still in use today and at least 20,000 still operate from China to Morocco.
500 BC
Sakia
Persian Water Wheel
(Persian Water Wheel) The first use of what is now called a pump. This device was an endless series of pots on a rope which ran over two pulleys. The oxen-powered device powered a cogged wheel allowing the pots to
enter the water supply, fill and then be raised and emptied. The Sakia was similar to the Noria except that it was powered by an external force rather than the flow of the river’s current.
250 BC
Tambour
Archimedes Screw
While visiting Egypt the Greek scholar Archimedes created this device which consisted of a screw inside a hollow tube. The screw was turned and as the bottom end of the screw rotated, it scooped up water. The water traveled up the
length of the screw until it poured out the top of the tube. Today the principal is used in transporting granular materials such as plastic granules used in injection molding and in moving cereal grains.
Windmills
500 AD
When the first use of a windmill occurred is unknown, although drawings of a water pumping windmill from Persia (current day Iran) exist. This design had vertical sails made of bundles of reeds or wood which attached to a central
vertical shaft.
1800 AD
Irrigated Acreage Worldwide
Irrigated acreage worldwide reaches 19,760,000 acres. This compares with an estimated 600,000,000 acres today.
The people of the Indus Civilization achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass, and time. They were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures, although, as in other civilizations of the time, actual weights
were not uniform from city to city. Their smallest division, which is marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal, was approximately 1.704 mm, the smallest division ever recorded on a scale of the Bronze Age. The weights were in a perfect
ratio of 5:2:1, on a scale very similar to the English Imperial ounce or Greek uncia.
The engineering skills of the Indus Valley people were of a very high order. This can be seen in the large buildings and water-management systems on evidence at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. It is also clear from the fact that harbour
buildings were constructed to take maximum advantage of tides and currents. This would have involved very careful measurement and design. The waters of the Indus Basin rivers had been used for irrigation purposes even before the
development of the present canal system by British engineers in the early 19th century. There were numerous inundation canals in the Indus Valley, which diverted supplies directly from the rivers during the high flow periods, without any diversion works across the riverbed. The local community, tribes, or states managed these inundation
canals.
In the early 1990s, irrigation from the Indus River and its tributaries constituted the world's largest contiguous irrigation system, capable of watering over 16 million hectares. The system includes three major storage reservoirs and numerous barrages, headworks, canals, and distribution channels. The total length of the canal system exceeds 58,000 kilometers;
there are an additional 1.6 million kilometers of farm and field ditches.
Indus River Irrigation System (After Separation)In 1947, the Indian sub continent was partitioned by the British into two independent states – Pakistan and India. After
the partition a commission was set up to resolve any issue that may emerge as a consequence of the partition. The matter of utilization of water resources of Indus Basin was raised by Pakistan. The boundary commission, chaired by Sir
Cyril Radcliff, awarded control barrages (situated very close to the border) to India, while 90 percent of irrigated land lay in Pakistan.
After a protracted negotiation of ten years through facilitation of the World Bank, the Indus Basin Treaty was signed by India and Pakistan in 1960 for distribution of water resources in the Indus Basin. According to the terms of the treaty
India was given the exclusive use of the waters of the eastern rivers namely Ravi, Sutlej and Beas. Pakistan was not given its full historic share and was allocated only 75 percent of its legitimate share of the waters in Indus Basin. Consequently,
Pakistan agreed to embark upon a gigantic project nicknamed as “Indus Basin Replacement Works”. The extensive undertaking involved the construction of two major da ms, five barrages and eight link canals.
The Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) of Pakistan has developed the world’s largest canal network. The construction of large water storages at Mangla, Tarbela and inter-river link canals are the major milestones in the IBIS management. The system is designed to allocate the scarce water resource over a large geographic area on equitable basis, although equitable distribution is self-defeating as the delivery system is positively linked to the landholdings. The water demand has increased tremendously over time due to expansion of agricultural cultivation on marginal land, increase in agricultural intensification, and fast population and industrial growth in the country. However, development of the IBIS has lagged way behind the increased water demand.
The IBIS comprises 3 reservoirs, 16 barrages and 2 head works, 14 interriver link canals and 45 main canals (Figure 2). It commands 16.68 Mha, out of 21 Mha of agricultural land through its large scale canal irrigation
systems, About 65% of the average river inflows are diverted for agriculture and other economic uses (Haq et al., 2008).
Figure-2. Reservoirs, Barrages and Main Canals in the Indus Basin Irrigation System of Pakistan.
Source: Haq et al., 2008.
The IBIS depends heavily on glaciers of the Western Himalayas which act as a reservoir, capturing snow and rain, holding the water and releasing it into the rivers which feed the canals and recharge the aquifer. Best estimates of glacier retreat are 50 years during which time river flows will increase. This in combination with predicted more
flashier rainfall is likely to exacerbate already serious problems of flooding and draining, especially in the lower parts of the basin, in the next few decades. But then the glacial reservoirs will be empty, and there are likely to be dramatic decreases in river flows.
Dams and reservoirs on Indus
Tarbela Dam
It is one of the largest dam in Pakistan. It was built on Indus or Sindh River. Its is near from
Atock, Rawalpindi, Abbotabad. It was built in 1976. Its water is used for power generation and
irrigations system. It is 143 meter high and 2750 meter in width. Terbela Dam is one of the main
source for electric capacity.
Mangla DamIt is located near Jehlam and 99 km from Islamabad. Mangla is built on river Jehlam. With
financial aid from word bank it was built in 1967. It is 138 meter high and 3140 meter wide.
Khanpur Dam
Khanpur Dam is located in KPK province but very neat to Islamabad. Many people don’t know
that it is also a picnic point very near to Twin Cities at short distance of just 25 Miles. You can go
there from short link roads by crossing Margala Hills or from Abottabad Road. It is mainly used as
water reservoir and is used for supply of drinking water to Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Its water is
also used for agriculture purposes in nearby areas. It was built in era of Field Marshal Muhammad
Auyb Khan. Every years a water sports are arranged in month of April and people from all over
Pakistan come here to enjoy and participate in water sports. If you are never been here before
then don’t wait for any more, but just go and see this beautiful place and enjoy with your family
and friends.
Bunji DamBunji Dam is a upcoming project and its site is located in Gilgit Baltistan. This hydro project is built on Indus
river. It is not a very large project as Mangla or Tarbela but definitely ad some value in system of Hydro Power for
Pakistan. China has offered cooperation to build this dam and MOUs have been already been signed. Chinese Government
is also giving cooperation in building more dams in KPK and Gilgit Baltistan.
Hub DamIt is located right at the border of Sindh and Balochistan. Hub dam was built in year 1981. It
water are used as drinking water for Karachi and for agriculture use for lasbela. There are many
fish are found in hub dam.
Barrages and Headworks in Pakistan
Jinnah Barrage.
Chashma Barrage.
Taunsa Barrage.
Guddu Barrage.
Sukkur Barrage.
Kotri Barrage.
River link canals in Punjab and rivers linked (total=10):
Chashma-Jhelum Link – Indus-JhelumTaunsa-Punjnad Link – Indus-ChenabRasul-Qadirabad Link – Jhelum-ChenabMarala-Ravi Link – Chenab-RaviBambanwala-Ravi-Bedian Link – Chenab-Ravi-SutlejUpper Chenab-Balloki Link – Chenab-RaviQadirabad-Balloki Link – Chenab-RaviTrimmu-Sidhnai Link – Chenab-RaviBalloki-Sulaimanke Link – Ravi-SutlejSidhnai-Mailsi Link – Ravi-Sutlej
The Economic Impact of Indus Basin Irrigation SystemThe agricultural produce, in addition to providing food security constitutes:
A. 23 percent of GDP
B. 70 percent of total export earnings
C. 54 percent employment of labour force
The overwhelming majority of its produce comes from the areas irrigated in the Indus Basin. The IBIS is therefore essential in sustaining the agriculture and consequently economic well-being of Pakistan. The Indus Basin now serves as the bread basket of Pakistan. Its land use is furnished below.
Current Problems and Recommendations
Farmers in Pakistan receive their share of irrigation waters on a rotational basis. To protect the right of share of their water, the farmers are using more than the optimum quantity of water required for healthy crops. Lack of modern irrigation techniques and agricultural practices further add to the wastage of irrigation water. Some solutions outlined below can potentially serve to address this issue:
1. Increase plantation of fruit trees.
2. Expand forested areas.
3. All existing dams small and large should be used for fish breeding and harvesting.
4. Develop agricultural based industries and timber factories in the rural areas to provide employment to small farmers and increase the percentage of value added goods for export.
5. Group small farms into larger units for cooperative farming using the latest irrigation and farming techniques and modern agricultural practices.
6. Increase the production of beans, lentils and edible oil seeds to reduce their imports.
7. Develop pastures for cattle farming and increase milk and meat production.
8. Big land holdings more than five thousand acres of area should be made available for co operative farming.
