the major issues related to groundwater management in Pakistan, which ...... Board, comprising groundwater scientists and engineers with support from law ...
Groundwater Management in Pakistan Dr. Shahid Ahmad, Shams ul Mulk, and Dr. Amir Muhammad1
Abstract Indus Basin represents an extensive groundwater aquifer covering a gross command area of 16.2 million hectares. Water table was well below the surface and aquifer was in a state of hydrological equilibrium before the development of canal irrigation system in the early 19th century. The recharge to aquifer from rivers and rainfall was balanced by outflow and crop evapotranspiration. The major part of the present day Indus basin irrigation system was completed around 1880. Since the introduction of the canal irrigation system, percolation to the aquifer was increased in irrigated areas of the Indus basin resulting in twin menace of waterlogging and salinity. Estimated recharge to the groundwater in the Indus Basin is around 56 billion m3, out of which 36 billion m3 occurs in areas of usable groundwater. The 1979 basinwide survey of WAPDA indicated that water table in 42% area of the Indus Basin was less than 3 m and classified as waterlogged, whereas water table in 22% area was less than 2 m. In the Sindh province, around 57% area was affected by waterlogging, where water table is less than 3-m. Although, groundwater use has increased significantly in the last two decades, the waterlogging still affects large tract of land. About 22% of the command area of the Indus basin is having water table within 2 m. Deep tubewells installed in Indus basin to lower the water table or to supplement the canal water supplies are bringing large amount of salts with pumped water. The use of marginal to brackish quality groundwater resulted into secondary salinization and sodification of soils, even with the use of canal waters either through mixing or separate use of groundwater. Sustainability of groundwater for irrigation and domestic/industrial use needs concentration on the importance of achieving or moving towards salt balance in groundwater and irrigation system. Salt balance in groundwater and in the root zone is of significance for sustainability of soil health and crop productivity. There is huge variation in the chemical quality of groundwater from one hydro-geologic basin to another. Within Indus basin, in general, water quality deteriorates from north to south. Mountainous valleys also indicate a similar trend. The data indicate that areas close to recharging sources, along rivers in Indus basin and aquifers recharged through rainfall, have good quality water. In urban towns and areas outside the Indus basin, groundwater resources are heavily over-exploited to fulfil the demands of irrigation and urban utilization. There is clear evidence that groundwater withdrawal is more that annual average recharge in certain parts of the country. As a result water table is continuously depleting in urban towns and in other parts of the country. In Balochistan, which relies exclusively on groundwater, water table is lowering down 0.6 to 0.9 meters annually on the average. The paper discusses the major issues related to groundwater management in Pakistan, which include: a) reliability and adequacy of resource information; b) resource degradation; c) resource depletion and equity; d) efficiency; e) participation; and f) institutional and policy. Based on these issues, the participants of the PWP workshop on groundwater management discussed and finalized recommendations, which include: a) resource picture; b) groundwater development and use; c) networking of existing institutions; d) quality parameters and standards; e) groundwater service for clients; f) pollution of groundwater; g) participation of clients; and h) research and dissemination. Based on these recommendations it is evident that there is a need to consider groundwater management within the framework of trusteeship, because once the resource is polluted it is not possible to recover its quality, even it is difficult to manage the extremely depleted aquifers. 1
Member, Natural Resources, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad; Minister for Irrigation, Works and Public Health Engineering, Government of the NWFP, Peshawar; and President, Asianics Agro-Development International, Islamabad.
1.
Introduction
Shortage of canal water is one of the major limitations in the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) for increasing agricultural productivity on sustained basis. Canal irrigation system in the IBIS was designed during the 19th century to meet the designed cropping intensity of 6070%. Presently, the cropping intensity in the IBIS is around 120%. This increase in cropping intensity is primarily due to the use of groundwater or efficient irrigation practices in areas where fresh groundwater is not available. Earthen canal system and inefficient conveyance and application of water resulted in waterlogging and salinity. The area affected by waterlogging and salinity was around 42% of the IBIS by the end of 1979 (WAPDA 1979). The Salinity Control and Reclamation Projects (SCARP) were initiated during 60s and until mid 90s around 38 SCARPs were completed. These projects were very successful in the freshwater zone, but in the brackish groundwater zone, the use of poor quality water resulted into secondary salinization and sodification of soils (WCD 2000). At present there are over 531,000 tubewells in the country (GOP 2000). The groundwater use had reached a maximum level of 62 billion m3 during 1996-97 and then started decreasing. In 1999-00, around 60 billion m3 water was pumped annually (GOP 2000). Increasing use of groundwater has changed the irrigation environment. The advantages are evident for the farmer, as groundwater allows irrigation at times and with amounts as desired by the farmer. Especially in areas with insufficient canal water, use of groundwater seems profitable. A side effect of the extraction of the groundwater by tubewells is a decrease of groundwater levels, which is positive in areas where fields are waterlogged or salinized due to capillary rise from shallow groundwater (IWASRI 1991). Farmers’ participation has been emphasized to improve performance of irrigation and drainage systems in various parts of the world. There were many reasons for transferring responsibility and authority of irrigation management to end-users, but the key factor had been the need to reduce public spending in irrigation development and maintenance and to enable reallocation of funds to other more pressing uses. Furthermore, the theoretical and empirical research studies conducted in the past recommends active involvement of farmers in the day-to-day management of irrigation systems. Participation in management of irrigation systems is not enough, in addition to management farmers have an important role to play in decision making related to quality and quantity of groundwater. In, Pakistan, responsibility of groundwater development and management has been shifted gradually from public to private sector. Groundwater development and management is presently being carried out by farmers through private (individual) and community (Farmers’ Organizations) tubewells (Ahmad et al. 2000a,e). Groundwater quality depends on the climatic parameters, nature of the surface flow, topography, extent of seepage and irrigation with amendment practices. The groundwater in the Indus basin contributes around 35% to the total water available for agriculture and water quality of the 60 percent area is marginal to brackish (World Bank 1997; Ahmad and Rashida 2001). The native groundwater that existed in the pre-irrigation period (early 19th century) was salty because of the underlying geologic formation being of marine origin. Now, this native salty groundwater is overlain by fresh groundwater due to seepage from rivers and canals of the IBIS. Thus, shallow
fresh groundwater zone occurs between the native pre-irrigation and the present day water tables (WAPDA 1988). In the Indus basin, near the rivers and canals, the fresh surface water seepage has improved the quality of the native groundwater to 120 to 150 m depths. However, in some areas, the thickness of the shallow groundwater zone ranges from less than 60 m along the margins of Doabs (area enclosed between two rivers) to 30 m or less in the lower or central parts of Doabs. Recently, it has been estimated that nearly 2000 billion m3 of fresh groundwater (mostly in the form of a thin layer) is lying on salty groundwater (Ahmad et al. 2001a). The concern on quality of these waters is becoming increasingly important in the faces of ever-growing population, accelerated agricultural activity and expanding industry. For successful crop production on sustainable basis without deteriorating soil health, the quality of groundwater is the main concern. In areas outside the Indus basin, water is at premium and groundwater mining is a major concern, as farmers are now pumping groundwater even below 150 m depth in the province of Balochistan. The flat electric tariff is one of the policy distortions, which forced farmers for over-pumping of groundwater and had adverse effects on he efficiency of irrigation water use. Urban Centres are also experiencing problems of lowering of water table due to excessive pumping to meet the expanding needs of the population. The lowering of water–table in urban centres and in peri-urban areas now require higher energy cost for pumping of water from deeper depths. The mining of groundwater and redistribution of salts in groundwater is a serious issue in the Indus basin because of the installation of large number of tubewells and indiscriminate use of groundwater. Therefore, enforcement of Groundwater Act is essential for future management of groundwater. The existing Groundwater Acts need modification to ensure inclusion of environmental issues i.e. pollution of groundwater by industrial and municipal effluents. The paper covers aspects of groundwater management in the Indus basin in terms of quantity and quality of water. It describes issues presently being faced in the country along with potential options for the management of the resource. The recommendations were discussed in the workshop during January 2002 organized by the PWP where participants actively participated; rather the largest number of participants joined the Groundwater Management Group.
2.
Groundwater Resources in the IBIS
2.1.
Pre-Storage Resource Picture
Indus Basin represents an extensive groundwater aquifer covering a gross command area of 16.2 million hectares (mha). Water table was well below the surface and aquifer was in a state of hydrological equilibrium before the development of canal irrigation system in the early 19th century. The recharge to aquifer from rivers and rainfall was balanced by outflow and crop evapotranspiration. The major part of the present day Indus Basin Irrigation System was completed around 1880. Since the introduction of the canal irrigation system, percolation to the
aquifer was increased in irrigated areas of the Indus basin resulting in twin menace of waterlogging and salinity. Although, there are disadvantages in having a high water table, it was used for irrigation by tubewells in fresh groundwater zone. Groundwater contribution for irrigation was around 12 billion m3 during the pre-storage period (1965-66), which was 11% of the total water available for agriculture.
2.2.
Post-Storage Resource Picture
The 1979 basin-wide survey of WAPDA indicated that water table in 42% area of the Indus Basin was less than 3 m and classified as waterlogged, whereas water table in 22% area was less than 2 m. In the Sindh province, around 57% area was affected by waterlogging, where water table is less than 3-m (Table 1). The 1979 basin-wide surveys were actually conducted during 1976-78 and therefore represent early post-Tarbela conditions. Although, groundwater use has increased significantly in the last two decades, the waterlogging still affects large tract of land. About 22% of the command area of the Indus basin is having water table within 2.0 m. This rise in water table is a good indicator of the worsening situation but it cannot be taken as solely due to Tarbela or Mangla reservoirs. This increase in waterlogging, in case of increased water supplies from Mangla and Tarbela could be attributed to lack of appropriate drainage facilities and inadequate improvements in irrigation management. The major reason was the failure or transition of SCARP projects and more recharge to the groundwater due to additional surface supplies from Tarbela (WCD 2000). Table 1. Province-wise trends of water table depths and area affected in the Indus basin. Province Punjab Sindh Balochistan NWFP Total
Total Area (mha) 10.17 5.57 0.35 0.62 16.71
Percent Area under Water Table Depth in meters 3 Misc. 7 11 17 63 2 6 24 27 40 3 1 6 9 84 0 6 12 6 66 10 7 15 20 55 3
Total 4000
Recommended Management Strategy Without mixing Dilution needed Not suitable for economic irrigation
In the Indus basin, sodicity of groundwater is as important as groundwater salinity. Therefore parameters of Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) and Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) were included in the water quality standards. SAR value, as low as 7.5 is recommended for safe use. Water quality criteria were very strict during 1960s but relaxed later on for planning of public-sector tubewells and drainage projects. Based upon experiences of groundwater and irrigation experts, the following generalized criteria had been formulated for public sector investment and for water users (Table 6). Table 6. Recommended management strategies and generalized groundwater quality standards in the Indus basin by WAPDA. Recommended Management Strategy of Groundwater Use 1985 Direct use 1990 Direct use 1985 1:1 mixing with canal water 1990 1:1 mixing with canal water
4.3.
EC (mmhos/cm) 1.6 2.3 2.8 4.4
Quality Characteristics TDS SAR (ppm) 1000 10 1500 12 1800 16 2800 20
RSC (meq/l) 2.5 5.0 5.0 10.0
Groundwater Quality Management
Although improvements have been made in the groundwater quality criteria by adding both salinity and sodicity parameters. However, there is a need to further revise the management strategies of groundwater use based on the recent findings of research (Ahmad et al. 2000b,c,d; Yasin et al. 2000; Sandhu et al. 1989; Sandhu et al. 1988a,b,c,d). The management strategies required for different qualities of groundwater are as under: v For saline groundwater, mixing with canal water is not advisable because in the past the assumption considered for mixing was that it improves quality of groundwater. In reality, it deteriorates quality of canal water, which has higher potential for leaching of soluble salts from the root zone compared to the groundwater of higher TDS. Therefore, cyclic use of canal and saline groundwater is recommended upto the TDS level of 3000 ppm. Furthermore, at the critical stages of crop growth i.e. germination and emergence, it is better to irrigate with canal water, if possible. Later on the crop can afford water of even higher concentrations. v For sodic groundwater, mixing with canal water is essential to reduce the levels of SAR and RSC, which will help to avoid or reduce the process of soil sodification. Therefore, water of having SAR of more than 10 and RSC of more than 2.5 meq/l must be used after dilution with canal water, if possible. Otherwise, sodification of medium to fine textured soils will be a major concern.
v Sprinkler irrigation would help to maintain higher soil moisture contents in soil and thus it is possible to maintain net water movement downward. US Salinity Labs Riverside have shown that irrigation with sprinkler requires much less quantity of water to maintain same level of salts in root zone with surface irrigation i.e. water required was reduced from 1100 mm to 260 mm in case of saline waters. v For sodic soils, penetration is affected and irrigation with sodic water is a problem especially for the first and second irrigations to crops when plants are in early stage of growth. Water ponded in fields for even weeks and crop is damaged due to loss of oxygen. Sprinkler irrigation provides an opportunity to apply shallow irrigations of 5-15 mm without any ponding effects. Therefore, sprinkler irrigation improves management of saline and sodic waters. WRRI-NARC tried these strategies successfully with farmers of sodic soils and using sodic groundwater with locally manufactured Raingun sprinklers. v Effective micro-organisms (EM) can be successfully used for fertigation using sodic groundwater. The pH of EM is around 3.5 and its propagability is high. The organic manures can be fermented in fertigation tanks using EM. EM bio-fertigation systems provide sustainable strategy for the management of sodic groundwater. Furthermore, EM is more sustainable than chemical amendments like gypsum and sulphuric acid.
4.4.
Groundwater Investigations and Monitoring
Groundwater occurs in Pakistan under varying conditions. As such it is affected largely by changes in prevailing climatic conditions. Groundwater investigations started in the Indus basin during 1957 and extended to mountainous areas of NWFP, Balochistan and desert areas of Cholistan. Altogether, 33.4 million ha were covered by groundwater investigations. During these investigations, 3399 test bores were made to estimate the sub-surface lithology and aquifer characteristics. In the same manner, groundwater quality data were collected from these testholes. Post project monitoring of groundwater parameters in the private sector stared by WAPDA during 1966 with emphases on water table behaviour and tubewell performance. Later on, water quality was included in this programme. The programme was expanded further to cover evaluation of SCARPs, water table appraisals, soil monitoring, land-use monitoring and water quality monitoring. Quarterly, by-annual and annual reports have been prepared by WAPDA containing monitoring, and evaluation records. WAPDA has published a basin-wide Atlas in 1979 covering aspects of surface and profile salinity, soil texture, water table depth, groundwater quality and land use (WAPDA 1979). The number of boreholes was not sufficient to characterise the water quality. Therefore, WAPDA under the National Drainage Programme has initiated a study to update the Atlas of soil and groundwater with increased numbers of bore holes, which will be completed in the next 2-3 years (WB 1997).
4.5.
Groundwater Contamination and Pollution
Groundwater resources of Pakistan are being contaminated in many ways. Industrial and municipal effluents are recognized as major sources. Contamination of fresh water due to lateral and horizontal movement of deep-seated saline water, drainage effluents and disposal of saline water into canals are becoming a great threat. Disposal of industrial waste is continuously adding heavy metals and trace elements into groundwater aquifers and surface water bodies that also are indirect sources of contamination for groundwater. Solid municipal waste sites in all the cities are the permanent source of organic and biological pollution. Liquid and solid domestic waste not only causing environmental hazards, but also becoming the source of all sorts of epidemics. Environment Protection Agency is actively working and issuing guidelines to the urban authorities to manage their hazardous and domestic waste problems. Similarly, industrial units are being pursued to install treatments plants so that their liquid waste should not contaminate the groundwater reservoirs, directly or indirectly. These management measures are being partially exercised in the country due two main reasons: firstly, lack of information about nature of existing industry and secondly, illegally installed industrial units. At present, there are only two heavy industrial units, which have functional waste treatment plants working on international standards. Chemical factories, of any capacity, are directly contaminating the water resources and there is no check on them. However, recently in Kasur district government of Punjab has commissioned treatment plant for effluents from the tanneries.
4.6.
Groundwater Legislation and Enforcement
Increasing demands of food grain by ever increasing population has resulted in the utilization of water resources to the limit. Groundwater being the sustainable source of municipal and irrigation supplies suffered the most. In order to streamline the groundwater exploitation, extraction and management practices, each province has formulated its own laws to utilize groundwater resources. Unfortunately it is being violated at each level. Water table in urban areas is depleting at very high rate due to over-exploitation of aquifers, but local water authorities are still installing high capacity tubewells to meet the water demands. This unscientific approach has drained the shallow aquifers to the last drop and deep aquifers are becoming target of this practice. In rural areas the practice is the same, but luckily, there are dependable sources of groundwater recharge, due to which water balance is naturally maintained. What needed here is the forceful implementation of the groundwater legislation. Under the prevailing groundwater abstraction practice, one can expect a chaotic situation regarding the availability of water in urban areas and for irrigation use. At this stage, a Water Management Board, comprising groundwater scientists and engineers with support from law enforcing agencies is the only option to manage and conserve the groundwater resources.
5.
Key Issues
Scientists and engineers have outlined issues related to groundwater management in the Indus basin and areas outside the basin. Based on the findings of research and proceedings of
workshops and seminars (Ahmad et al. 2001a,b,c; Ahmad et al. 2000b), the key issues have been identified and are presented in the following sections.
5.1.
Reliability and Adequacy of Resource Information
v Groundwater hydro-geological information is reasonably reliable for the Indus basin. However, this information is limited for areas outside the Indus basin especially for areas where extensive and contiguous aquifer is non-existing. v Groundwater quality information is sporadic and not adequate. Furthermore, its reliability is also questionable due to limited spatial coverage. Even for locations for which the information is available it is primarily limited to the salinity of groundwater. Extensive geo-referenced information about groundwater sodicity is not available. Number of institutions are involved in the analysis of water quality but they never maintained this information based on geo-referencing. Therefore, spatial analysis of water quality is limited. v Information regarding the groundwater profile quality is completely missing. For example, information regarding depth to the interface of fresh and brackish groundwater is not available even with the research institutions. Therefore, experts cannot provide any information to the water users for the installation of sustainable skimming wells. v Information on water and salt-balance in groundwater, irrigation system and the basin’s health is confusing and different agencies and individuals quote different type of information. Therefore, the macro-level planning and management of groundwater resources is difficult and there is hardly any consensus on the already developed groundwater budgets and management plans. 5.2.
Resource Degradation v The indiscriminate use of groundwater and installation of deep tubewells resulted in redistribution of salts in the groundwater due to intrusion of brackish groundwater in to the fresh groundwater zone. Thus intrusion of saline water is a major and continued concern. v Lack of drainage facilities in the Indus basin resulted in the recycling of salts in the groundwater, irrigation system and in the root-zone depth. Salt build-up in the root zone due to the use of poor quality groundwater resulted in secondary salinization and sodification of soils in the Indus basin. v Degradation of rangelands due to overgrazing and cutting of forest plants and bushes resulted in loss of rainwater as surface runoff. The steep slope of mountains is another factor contributing towards increased surface runoff. Surface runoff is not only loss of water but it is an added loss of top fertile soil and causes serious damage to the infrastructure due to flash floods. The flash floods ultimately contribute to reduced recharge to groundwater, which is a major resource available for valley-wide irrigated agriculture in the province of Balochistan. v Development of tubewell technology and high value horticultural crops in Balochistan reduced farmers’ interest in Sailaba and Khushkhaba systems and Rod-Kohi systems in NWFP and Punjab. These are systems based on spate irrigation, which helps to recharge groundwater through water spreading. Therefore, indigenous water harvesting systems have to be strengthened for sustainability of groundwater in areas outside the Indus basin.
5.3.
Resource Depletion and Equity
v In the fresh groundwater zone and urban centres of the Indus basin, lowering of water table is a major concern due to over-pumping of groundwater. The recharge is much less than the utilization. Therefore, sustainability of groundwater in these areas is becoming a serious challenge. v Dugwells in the Indus basin provide an opportunity to skim thin layer of shallow fresh groundwater, as the deep groundwater is brackish in quality. Installation of deep tubewells resulted in mixing of fresh and saline groundwater and redistribution of salts. Once the salts are redistributed it will not be possible to reverse the situation. v In areas outside the Indus basin, development of tubewells and irrigated horticulture is now leading towards a stage of groundwater depletion, or 'water mining', which is a major problem associated with the growth of human settlements in arid areas. The groundwater table in the Northern Basin of the Quetta valley is lowering by almost 2 m per annum, while a fall of 0.6 m is reported for its southern basin. v Over-exploitation of groundwater through deep tubewells is affecting the Karaizes adversely and most of the Karaizes are now completely dried. This poses serious equity concerns among the poor farmers, who cannot afford to install deep tubewells. Karaizes use to provide more equitable access to water ir-respect of the landholdings i.e. water allocations were made for mosque, school, etc. v Dugwells in the areas outside the Indus basin provide a cost-effective intervention for harnessing of shallow groundwater in areas where water is at premium. The installation of large discharge deep turbine pumps have dried the dugwells and now the poor farmers are facing serious equity concerns i.e. Soan valley is a good example of drying dugwells and resource depletion by the introduction of deep turbine tubewells.
5.4.
Efficiency
v Pumped groundwater is transported through earthen watercourses and applied to the unlevelled fields resulting into huge conveyance and application losses. The irrigation efficiency of tubewell based irrigation systems is between 50-60%. The seepage loss is not retrievable in areas outside the Indus basin, as the water table is too deep. v Pumping cost is increasing due to mining of groundwater, as the farmers have to lower the tubewell every alternate year in some parts of Pakistan's Balochistan. The farmers are also dependent on the availability of electric supply as the deep well pumping is very costly with diesel-operated engines. Furthermore, the life and efficiency of diesel operated pumping systems is less compared to electric prime movers. v Flat rate of electric tariff in the Balochistan province is a disincentive for efficiency. Tubewells are never shut down and the load shedding take care this aspect. Normally tubewells are run for 24 hours. There is a need to rationalize the electric tariff for conservation of water and energy. v Efficiency of the pumping systems locally manufactured is extremely low, ranging between 20-60%. This resulted in the higher pumping cost, which affects the profitability of tubewell agriculture in the country.
5.5.
Participation
v Development process is either incomplete or not clearly defined. The community is never involved in the appraisal and planning phases of groundwater development. Therefore, they do not take any responsibility for operation and maintenance (O&M) of the groundwater and drainage schemes and the government institutions are facing financial constraints for O&M. There is a complete consensus among the experts that most of the water schemes are deteriorating. v Lack of clients’ participation is even evident among the public-sector institutions. In developing countries, experts have agreement that water projects are deteriorating due to deferred maintenance. For example in Pakistan, WAPDA never seriously considered participation of Provincial Irrigation and Power Departments in the planning of water projects to ensure that what level of O&M the client can afford. This was true for SCARPs and LBOD project. Therefore, reversal is needed in the planning process, where emphasis be placed on the sustainable level of O&M, while designing the water schemes. v Tile drainage schemes introduced in the FESS project indicated that farmers although participated in pilot schemes but they are not interested to pump water for drainage but they will pump it for supplemental irrigation. The issue is that development agencies never incorporated project experiences in their routine for planning of future projects. The farmers’ managed tile drainage systems indicated that skimming dugwells would be more effective in controlling waterlogging than the tile drainage systems.
5.6.
Institutional and Policy
v In the Indus basin, the existing concept of development also restricts the efforts towards launching an integration of water and agriculture departments to have concept of irrigated agriculture under the new development programmes. The institutional constraints also restrict participation of farmers for effective groundwater management in the Indus basin. v In areas outside the Indus basin, existing concept of development also restricts the efforts towards launching an integrated watershed management and valley irrigated agriculture development programmes. The institutional constraints also restrict participation of farmers for effective groundwater management in valley basins. v There does not exist any effective implementation of the Groundwater Act; therefore, indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater is posing serious mining problems. Farmers are not aware of the harmful effects of groundwater mining. v There do not exist any institution dealing with all aspects of groundwater. Linkages with institutions dealing with water aspects are weak. v There is no charge on the pumping of groundwater. This has resulted in to serious concerns regarding mining of groundwater, where it is difficult to differentiate between tubewells pumping water for drinking purposes and for agriculture and recreational purposes. v In Pakistan, farmers and public sector institutions developed success stories. The good examples are PATA Groundwater Project and farmers’ managed irrigation systems improved under AKRSP. These experiences were never incorporated in the planning of public sector water projects. Complete failure in learning from indigenous experiences was observed.
6.
Recommendations
6. 1.
Resource Picture
Information of groundwater resources is essential and is the first most important aspect for initiating any activity for the management of the resource in the Indus basin and areas outside the basin. Participants of the Workshop recommended that: v Acceptance of resource picture by all the stakeholders is essential prior to initiating any management activity at the national level; v Panel of Experts should be formulated under the auspices of the PWP to critically review the methodology and formulate groundwater budget at the national and provincial or basin levels; v International Waterlogging and Salinity Research Institute (IWASRI), Lahore may be taken as a Focal Point to provide the secretariat support and 5-6 Experts should be selected in personal capacity as member of the Panel. The Panel will elect/select its Leader and will be responsible to formulate methodology for the development of Groundwater Informatics; v A Steering Committee should be constituted to assign the tasks and to oversee the progress of the Panel. One member each from Provincial Irrigation and Drainage Authorities and OFWM will constitute the Steering Committee; and v Support of GWP would be required for expert assistance. 6.2.
Groundwater Development and Use
There is a need to have sustainable groundwater development and use to address the issues of intrusion of brackish groundwater into the freshwater zone; and to minimize the mining of groundwater in areas having water at premium. v Extraction of relatively fresh groundwater under given aquifer conditions and quality of water through the use of skimming wells should be encouraged; v Approaches and technology for the sustainable use of marginal quality groundwater under given aquifer conditions should be developed. This would include co mparison o f alternate irrigat ion application methods like surface and pressurised irrigat ion systems and amendments for managing sodic groundwater. 6.3.
Networking of Institutions
There is a need to establish agency dealing with different aspects of the groundwater. Participants were of the opinion that it is easy to establish new agency but its sustainability is questionable. Furthermore, there are number of institutions dealing with water. Therefore, networking of existing institutions to have effective partnership for exchange of information, planning, design and management of groundwater resources should be developed.
6.4.
Quality Parameters and Standards
v Refinement of groundwater quality standards is needed to account aspects of climate, land use, soils, topography and climate change; v There are number of institutions dealing with analysis of groundwater quality and thus information should be exchanged through a network; v SMO-WAPDA may be assigned the role of a Focal Point for collection and collation of data and database development. 6.5.
Groundwater Service for Clients
Participants emphasized the need to initiate a Service for the clients in the development, management and use of groundwater. This would require mechanisms to provide reliable, timely and cost-effective information to the clients (farmers, etc.) for groundwater aquifer conditions, water quality, etc. In the public sector, such a Service can be organized by re-orienting the existing On-Farm Water Management programmes at the district level. 6.6.
Pollution of Groundwater
Pollution of groundwater is a serious threat. Thus there is a need to develop cost-effective ways, which can be adopted otherwise entry of pollutants to water bodies would be continued. v Entry of brackish water, drainage and industrial effluents in to the freshwater bodies should be avoided; v Primary treatment of sewage and industrial effluents must be ensured prior to their entry to streams and freshwater bodies; v Monitoring of pesticides residues and nitrates leaching to groundwater is needed as a continued activity due to the excessive use of chemicals in agriculture; v Management of sewage water using effective micro-organisms during transit of the disposal system and at utilization end for raising vegetables in the peri-urban areas; and v Approaches and technology need to be developed for cost-effective pumping of groundwater especially diesel operated prime movers. Fuel efficiency of diesel operated pumping system should be improved. 6.7.
Participation of Clients
Participation of clients should be ensured for planning, design and management of groundwater for agricultural and domestic purposes. This would help to minimize issues related to the O&M problems being faced by the public sector. 6.8.
Research and Dissemination
Participants indicated the need to initiate systematic research and dissemination of generated information for sustainability of groundwater. v Research on site-specific development and management of groundwater resources must lead towards generation of information for dissemination to the clients;
v Research and technology development for skimming of freshwater and to avoid intrusion of brackish groundwater into the freshwater zone and development of pressurized irrigation systems for application of skimmed water; v Public awareness campaigns should be arranged for participation of clients in the management of the resource.
7.
References
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Mean Annual River Flows 168 BCM Flow to Arabian Sea 32 BCM
Mean Annual Canal Diversions 124 BCM
River System Losses 12 BCM
Canal Losses 31 BCM Canal Supplies at Watercourse Head 93 BCM Watercourse Losses 28 BCM Canal Supplies at Farm Gate 65 BCM Groundwater Contribution 60 BCM Irrigation Water at Farm Gate 125 BCM Field Channel Losses 12 BCM Irrigation Water at Field Level 113 BCM
Irrigation Water for Crop Consumptive Use 84 BCM
Field Application Losses 29 BCM
Rainfall Contribution 16 BCM Total Water Available for Crop Consumptive Use 100 BCM
Figure 1. Water Budget of the Indus Basin Irrigation System, Pakistan, based on 50% Probability of both Annual River Flows and Annual Canal Diversions (All values are in billion m3 – BCM).
