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Lecture -2

Water Resources of Pakistan

Planning & Development of Irrigation System

 Inundation Canals – Irrigation was undertaken through a network
of inundation canals, functional only during periods of high river
flow. The last inundation canals were connected to weir controlled
supplies in 1962 with completion of Guddu Barrage on Indus River

 1859 – Controlled irrigation began with the completion of Upper

Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) from Madhopur Headworks on Ravi River

 1872 – Sirhind Canal from Rupar Headworks on Sutlej River

 1886 – Sidhnai Canal from Sidhnai Barrage on Ravi River

 1892 – Lower Chenab from Khanki on Chenab River

 1901 – Lower Jhelum from Rasul on Jhelum River

 1885 to 1914 – Lower and Upper Swat on Kabul River & Paharpur
Canals in NWFP were completed

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Planning & Development of Irrigation System

 1907-15 – Ravi River serving a large area of Bari Doab, was
deficient in supply while Jhelum had a surplus. Triple Canal Project,
linked the Jhelum, Chenab, and Ravi rivers, allowing a transfer of
surplus Jhelum and Chenab water to the Ravi. Triple Canal Project
is the key concept for the resolution of the Indus Waters Dispute
between India and Pakistan in 1960

 1933 – The Sutlej Valley Project, comprising of 4 barrages & 2

canals, resulting in the development of unregulated flow resources
of the Sutlej River & motivated planning for Bhakra reservoir

 1933 – The Sukkur Barrage & its system of 7 canals serving 2.95
million hectares (Mha) of land in Lower Indus were completed

 1939 – Haveli & Rangpur from Trimmu Headworks on Chenab

 1947 – Thal Canal from Kalabagh Headworks on Indus

Planning & Development of Irrigation System

 1947-48 – At independence, the irrigation system, conceived
originally as a whole, was divided between India & Pakistan
without regard to irrigated boundaries. This resulted in the
creation of an international water dispute in 1948
 1948-60 – In addition to 3 inter-river link canals, Kotri, Taunsa &
Guddu Barrages were completed on Indus to provide controlled
irrigation to areas previously served by inundation canals
 1960 – Indus Waters Treaty under aegis of the World Bank. The
treaty assigned three eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India &
three western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan with a
transfer of irrigation supplies from western rivers to areas in
Pakistan formerly served by eastern rivers
 1960-71 – The Indus Basin Project including Mangla Dam, 5
barrages, 1 syphon and 8 inter-river link canals
 1975-76 – Tarbela Dam started partial operation

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Domestic, Industrial, Agricultural & Other Water Usages

Source: Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), United Nations

Domestic, Industrial, Agricultural & Other Water Usages

Source: Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), United Nations

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Water withdrawal by source

Source: Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), United Nations

Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS)

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Indus Basin Irrigation System

Key Facts
Reservoirs 3
Barrages 16
Headworks 2
Link Canals 12
Canal Systems 44
Watercourses 107,000
Length of Canals 56,073 km
Length of 1.65 million km
Watercourses (200 – 800 acres)
Avg. Canal Diversion 104.74 MAF 
67.11 MAF – Kharif
37.63 MAF - Rabi
Groundwater 41.6 MAF
Abstraction
Tubewells > 550,000
Irrigated Area 36 million acres
Avg. escape to sea 39.4 MAF

Indus Basin Irrigation System

 44 canal systems (Punjab - 23, Sindh - 14, KPK - 5 & Balochistan - 2)

 About 77.4% of total irrigated area of Pakistan falls in Punjab, 2.8%

area falls in KPK & 19.8% in Sindh/Balochistan

 During kharif periods, Punjab uses 34.3 MAF annually, while Sindh
& Balochistan use 31.4 MAF & KPK used 2.35 MAF

 During rabi periods, avg. withdrawals by Punjab, Sindh &

Balochistan, & KPK are 19.87, 16.06 & 1.46 MAF, respectively

 Outside the Indus Basin, there are smaller river basins  drain
directly to sea. One is on Mekran coast of Balochistan & other is a
closed basin (Kharan). The total amount inflow of both is < 4 MAF
annually. These streams are flashy & do not have a perennial
supply. About 25% of their inflow is used for flood irrigation

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Water Source Distribution of Irrigated Area

Provincial Irrigation Setups

Punjab
 The public irrigation infrastructure in the Punjab consists of 13
barrages, 2 siphons across major rivers, 12 link canals & 23 major
canal systems over an aggregate length of 34,500 km

 The whole irrigation infrastructure lies within the IBIS. It serves an

area of 8.58 MHa. In addition, there are 135 surface drainage
systems including over 670 drains, with an aggregate length of
about 6,600 km, which drain an area of about 5.79 MHa, within 23
canal commands

 During 1999-2000, the total irrigated area using all sources

available in the Punjab, was of the order of 13.8 MHa. This
included 11 MHa in the canal commands. The private tubewells &
wells irrigated 2.8 MHa during the same period

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Provincial Irrigation Setups

Sindh
 Sindh has 14 publicly owned irrigation systems, which receive
water from 3 barrages across the River Indus. These systems, with
an aggregate length of 18,000 km of canals, serve an area of about
5.38 MHa

 There are 13 existing surface drainage systems in Sindh, which

serve a total area of over 3.5 MHa & have an aggregate length of
about 4,800 km. New drains are also being constructed in the
province

 During 1999-2000, the total irrigated area, using all sources in

Sindh, was of the order of 3.52 MHa. This included 2.39 MHa of
irrigated land in the canal commands. The private tubewells and
wells irrigated 0.13 MHa during the same period

Provincial Irrigation Setups

KPK
 KPK has five publicly owned irrigation systems in the Indus Basin,
which serve a total area of 0.34 MHa. These systems receive water
from two headworks across River Swat and Warsak Dam. In
addition, there are six other canal systems, which serve a total of
0.13 MHa of land

 KPK has over 200 canals called “civil canals”, which are community
or privately owned. These irrigate an aggregate area of 0.83 MHa.
There are four surface drainage systems in KPK comprising of 456
drains. These serve a total area of 0.37 MHa

 During 1999-2000, the total irrigated area, using all the sources in
KPK was of the order of 0.89 MHa. This included 0.39 MHa of land
in the canal commands. Private canals, tubewells and wells
irrigated 0.47 MHa during the same period

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Provincial Irrigation Setups

Balochistan
 Balochistan has two canal systems, which receive water from IBS
through Guddu & Sukkur Barrage, located in Sindh. These canal
systems serve a total area of 0.33 MHa. One of these, the Pat
Feeder Canal System, has been improved recently. In addition,
there are 431 independent publicly owned small irrigation
schemes, which serve 0.14 MHa. There are a few privately owned
small irrigation schemes too

 Balochistan also has one large drainage system called the “Hairdin
Drainage System”, which drains 0.07 MHa

 During 1999-2000, the total irrigated area using all the sources in
Balochistan, was of the order of 0.81 MHa. This included 0.4 MHa
in the canal commands. Private tubewells and wells irrigated 0.34
MHa during the same period

Provincial Irrigation Area

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Groundwater Usage for Irrigation

 Large scale tubewell pumpage for irrigation began in early sixties.
Number of private tubewells are presently about 550,000 in IBIS

 An estimated 41.6 MAF of groundwater is pumped annually in

Pakistan. More than 90% of the extracted groundwater is used for
irrigation purposes. Groundwater reservoirs are recharged from
rivers, canals, watercourses, farm channels & fields

 Most of ground water abstraction occurs in Punjab. This was of

order 34 MAF druing 1999-2000, followed by Sindh at 5 MAF, KPK
at 2.1 MAF & Balochistan at 0.5 MAF

 In last 25- 30 years, ground water has become a major supplement

to canal supplies, especially in the Upper Indus Plain. In this region,
ground water quality is good. The groundwater resources of
Pakistan extend from the Himalayan foothills to the Arabian Sea &
are contained in the alluvial deposits of the Indus Plains

Groundwater Usage for Irrigation

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Salinity & Waterlogging

 Pakistan has an agriculture-based economy, which is mainly
dependent on irrigation through canal supplies. Before
introduction of irrigation system, water table was sufficiently deep.
However, due to a lack of drainage facilities & improper water
management, water table rose, resulting in waterlogging & salinity

 About 25% of the irrigated area of Pakistan is affected by

waterlogging & salinity/sodicity problems

 In addition to other measures like Irrigation System Rehabilitation,

Command Water Management & On-Farm Water Management
programs taken up by different government departments, WAPDA
completed 57 Salinity Control & Reclamation Projects (SCARPs) at
total cost of Rs. 26.48 billion. These cover a gross area of 7.81 MHa.
Surveys indicated that waterlogging has reduced from 42% in 60s
to about 25% in 1977-79. Similarly, saline, saline-sodic and sodic
soils were reduced from 6, 27 &11% to 11, 24 & 3% respectively

Salinity & Waterlogging

 The National Drainage Programme (NDP) was launched in 1998,
incurring a cost of US$ 785 million. The programme will continue
for 25 years. The major activities envisaged include:
 remodeling / extension of existing surface & new drains
 rehabilitation / replacement of saline groundwater (SGW)
tubewells
 installation of pipe drains in new areas
 lining of watercourses in SGW areas
 construction of interceptor drains
 reclamation of waterlogged areas through biological drainage
 transfer of fresh groundwater tubewells

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Irrigation Efficiencies
 Pakistan, despite being an agrarian country, has demonstrated
extremely low irrigation efficiencies, creating problems related to
water conservation, waterlogging & salinity

 The crop yield in Pakistan is on the lower side. The current

estimated irrigation efficiency in Pakistan is 35.5%. This means that
only 35.5% of the water that reaches the fields is actually used by
the crops

 Irrigation efficiency is a compound of three efficiencies i.e. canal-

head efficiency, watercourse efficiency & farm/application
efficiency

Escapage to the Sea

 On an average, about 39.4 MAF of water flows to the sea annually

 Most of this flow occurs during the kharif season when 36.94 MAF
or 93.8% goes to the sea

 In the rabi season, on average about 2.44 MAF flows into the sea,
and most of that is in the first few weeks of the season. For several
months in the winter, there is no flow into the sea

 During the last 25 years, a total flow of 984.75 MAF of river water
has flowed into the sea. This is equivalent to more than 9 years of
average canal withdrawals during the same period

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Water Availability VS Population

Reservoir Sedimentation

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Land Use in Pakistan

WAPDA’s Water Vision 2025

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WAPDA’s Water Vision 2025

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