UNIT#4

WATER RESOURCES IN PAKISTAN

Water Resources includes:

1- Introduction

2- Uses of water

3- Hydrological Cycle

4- Irrigation Methods (Traditional & Modern Methods).

5- Rivers of Balochistan

6- The Indus Water Treaty

7- Dams & Barrages

8- Waterlogging & Salinity

9- Siltation.
 INTRODUCTION
- Total global water constitutes 75%.
- Fresh water is only 2.5% that is usable.
- This fresh water is available from surface, underground, glaciers, permafrost, living things
such as plants, & Rivers.

USES OF WATER
- There are many uses of water. Its uses can be divided into two categories.

Domestic Use:

- Cooking.
- Washing clothes.
- Washing utensils; such as saucepans, crockery and cutlery.
- Keeping houses and communities clean.
- Recreation; such as swimming pools.
- Keeping plants alive in gardens and parks.

Industrial Use:

- In industries water is used for fabricating, dying, processing, washing, diluting, cooling, or
transporting a product.
- Water is also used in agriculture and livestock farming.
- Water is also used by smelting facilities, cooling down Blast furnaces in steel mills,
petroleum refineries, industries producing chemical products, medicines, food, and paper
products.

HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
It is defined as the continuous circulation of water from atmosphere to earth and vice-versa.
Procedure may involve Condensation, Precipitation, Evapo-transpiration and vice-versa. Some
of water that falls down during rain drains into rivers and oceans, some is absorbed by land,
some by plants.
 - Water is evaporated from land, rivers, lakes, or oceans (Evaporation) & Plants
(Transpiration).
- This evaporated water is known as vapor. Vapors are taken by the hot air. Hot air rises up
where it starts cooling down. This cooling down of air turns vapors into water droplets again
(Condensation).
- After turning into droplets, water starts falling down on the surface in the form of liquid or
snow (Precipitation).
- This precipitation can come to land, rivers, plants, or sea to get evaporated again. This
whole procedure is known as water cycle.

IRRIGATION METHODS

Irrigation methods includes:

Man-made
Natural Irrigation
Irrigation
Methods.
Methods.

Natural includes:
 Rivers
 Lakes
 Underground
 Rainfall etc. Traditional Modern
methods Methods.

Man-Made or artificial methods include:

Old traditional methods:

Shaduf: The basic shaduf consists of rope, pole, bucket and counter weight. The counter weight can just
be a heavy rock, but in more advanced design of shaduf; one person guides the bucket while other act
as a moving counter weight. It is generally used for lifting water from unlined wells, streams or ponds
helping in the irrigation of small fields. However, limited quantity of water comes out energy.
Charsa: It is the simplest and cheapest method of lifting ground water with a bucket and rope from a
wide shallow well. The rope and bucket lifter can be operated by animals. In the animal driven system,
the rope attached to the bucket is passed over a pulley and fixed to the animal. This method lifts the
water. However, limited quantity of water is taken out and a lot of energy is required to pull up the
bucket.

Karez: Karez is also known as Qanat method. This method is specially used in Balochistan due to high
evaporation rate in the province. Underground water is used through this method. On the foothills,
snow water is reserved in small aquifers. A horizontal underground tunnel is dug from the aquifer to the
village areas. Its length is sometimes even 20 km. For regular maintenance purpose, vertical holes are
dug every 15 m so that it connects the underground tunnel with the field surface. Dates and palm trees
are usually grown at the collection point to reduce the evaporation rate. However, the quantity of water
depends upon the infiltrated water.

Wells: Large vertical holes are dug to get the underground water. Ropes, Buckets and a pulley is used in
combination with manual or draft power. However, the quantity of water depends upon the ground
water reserves and once the well is dried up it is either dug more or closed.
Tank Irrigation: Large holes are dug in rectangular fo rm to collect the
rain water for irrigation purpose. Trees are planted along the edges to reduce the evaporation rate.
However, the quantity of the water depends upon the rainfall.

Inundation Canals: These canals are directly taken from the rivers. There two types of inundation
canals:

- Unlined Canals (non – cemented canals which may increase the threat of water logging and
salinity)
- Diversion Canals (only works during the floods to carry water to far off places)

Persian Wheel: Persian wheel is a device used to raise water out of well. It is a system of chain of
buckets around a vertical wheel attached to interlocked wheels powered by an animal driven in a circle.
Wheels are put on the surface of ground water, and then a belt with many water pots combines with
two wheels. The vertical rotation is transferred into a horizontal rotation by a mechanic device. An
animal drive the horizontal wheel which makes the water belt automatically fetched water from
underground. The animal is usually blindfolded so that it may not stop circulating around and may not
feel drowsiness.
Modern methods:

Dams & Barrages: A dam or a Barrage is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of water in a river.
Reservoirs not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human
consumption and industrial works etc. However, there are many problems associated with the
construction of dams like relocation of humans, deforestation, natural habitat loss and siltation etc.

Tube Wells: Tube wells are just like wells but despite of manual power, an electric motor is attached
which takes out the ground water for irrigational use. However, tube wells are considered as an
expensive method and doesn’t work if the area is having a power failure.

Perennial Canals: These canals are generally taken out from a reservoir (Dam / Barrage) and hence
could supply water for irrigation throughout the year. These canals are usually Lined Canals (Cemented
Canals to avoid the problem of water logging and salinity) However, poor farmers cannot afford
cementing the canals due to monetary problems.

Water Tankers: They are mobile water carriers often used to supply water in a water deprived area. This
method is rarely used to provide water for irrigation due to its expensiveness.

Sprinklers: This method is considered as best method to conserve or save water since small amount of
water is pressurized through motors to reach large distance. Sprinklers are generally used in football and
hockey stadiums or in lawns and gardens. However, this method is not suitable for poor farmers due to
their expensiveness. They cannot work if the area is having a power failure.
 RIVERS OF BALOCHISTAN
The province of Balochistan caters many rivers like Kurram, Tochi and Gomal which joins River Indus as
its Western Tributaries. These rivers not only provide water to the surrounding areas / cities but also
helps in providing water to industries and practicing agriculture. Moreover, there are several seasonal
rivers like Mula, Mashkel, Porali and Pishin etc. moving towards south west; occurring due to rainfall but
then disappear in shallow depression called Hamuns due to high evaporation rate in the province. Some
of the rivers like Dasht, Hingol and Hub joins Arabian Sea towards the south. These rivers provide
grounds to make Small Dams like Mirani Dam has already been constructed on River Dasht.

INDUS WATER TREATY

- Indus Water Treaty was signed between India & Pakistan in 1960.
- India gained rights of River Ravi, Beas, & Sutlej.
- Pakistan got River Jhelum, Chenab, & Indus.
- Pakistan constructed Warsak Dam, Tarbela & Mangla Dam.
- It resolves our economic crises to some extent but not completely.

Requirements for constructing Dams & problems associated with

dams
Construction of Dams require many physical factors which are as follows:

- A mountainous area – so that the slope could make the river flow fast downward.
- Heavy precipitation – so that the rivers are always with high discharge of water.
- A solid bed rock – to support the foundation of dam.
- Cool climatic conditions – to reduce the evaporation rate.
- Water retentive soil – to reduce the infiltration rate.

However, construction of dams also creates some problems which are as follows:

- Huge sum of money – it requires huge capital investment.

- Decrease in fish production – Dams restrict the movement of migratory fishes which reduces
their overall population in the rivers.
- Reallocation of Humans – the human settlement needs to be transferred before the
construction of dams.
- Harm to ecosystem – deforestation is usually done to clear the land for the construction of
dams which badly affect the natural habitat of many species of animals, reptiles, insects and
birds etc.
- Siltation – the silt carried by rivers is often deposited in the dams making their capacity level
low. However, using Silt Traps and Growing vegetation within the course of the river behind
the dam can solve the problem of Siltation.

Barrages: A barrage is a type of low-head, diversion dam which consists of a number of large gates that
can be opened or closed to control the amount of water passing through the structure, and thus
regulate and stabilize river water elevation upstream for use in irrigation and other systems. The gates
are set between flanking piers which are responsible for supporting the water load of the pool created.
Barrages in Pakistan are in:

Upper Indus Plain:

- Jinnah Barrage
- Islam Barrage
- Rasul Barrage
- Taunsa Barrage
- Trimmu Barrage
- Punjnad Barrage

Lower Indus Plain:

- Guddu Barrage
- Sukkur Barrage
- Kotri Barrage.
 WATERLOGGING & SALINITY
Due to extensive farming techniques and irrigation methods; the ground water level has risen at many
places in Pakistan. Waterlogging is the saturation of soil with water. Underground water moves upward
to the surface. This underground water contains saline or salty materials and minerals. Water gets
evaporated leaving salts behind on the soil. Salts are considered bad for the plants, the soil becomes
saline and unusable for cultivation. The organization responsible to reduce the problem of Water logging
and Salinity in Pakistan is known as SCARP (Salinity Control and Reclamation Project).

Solutions to cure the problem of Water logging and salinity: There are some solutions to get rid of
water logging and salinity problems which are as follows:

- Installing tube wells to reduce the underground water level so that the problem of water
logging could be resolved.
- The use of shifting cultivation method in agriculture to reduce water logging so that, the
water is not concentrated to one place.
- Flushing the salt with water from the soil to reduce the salinity problem.
- Growing eucalyptus plants to reduce the salinity problem. These trees have straight roots.
They keep absorbing water from underground. It does not allow excess water to come to
surface.

SILTATION
- Silt is brought by the rivers from mountains as a result of soil erosion.
- The silt starts getting deposited in canals and the bottom of dams.
- It reduces the flow of water in canals, making HEP Generation difficult.
- It also reduces the water storage capacity of dams. If silt is kept depositing, walls of dams
may also crack.

Solutions to Siltation:

- Proper lining and cementing of canals should be done.

- Strong silt trap must be installed on the mouth of canals.
- Growing vegetation or forestation programs will reduce the soil erosion.