Pakistan's Water Crisis
Posted: November 4th, 2013, 4:43 pm
Scarcity of water threatens the existence of Pakistan already saddled with burgeoning population by 2025. Members residing in Karachi would be more aware of the city's dependency on water tankers for provision of water.
A few facts on the harsh ground reality based on reports of Economist Magazine and Pakistan Business Council. The facts are quite alarming are as follows:
Pakistan is one of World’s most arid countries.
Availability of water/person has dropped from 5000 cubit metres in the 1950’s to 1100 cubic metres in 2012.
¼ th of Pakistan’s land is cultivated consuming 90% of its fresh water supplies.
Intensive irrigation regimes and poor drainage practices have caused water logging and soil salinity throughout Pakistan's countryside rendering to waste vast expanses of rich agricultural lands which are now too wet or salty to yield any meaningful harvests.
By 2025 it is estimated that water supply in Pakistan will fall short of demand by roughly 100 million cubic metres (around half the flow of river Indus)
20 Hydel Projects being constructed by India on western rivers (Indus, Jehlum and Chenab) allocated to Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty. 10 more Hydel projects are in the pipeline and many more slated for completion by India.
Each of these projects conform to the letter of the Indus Water Treaty, since it does not involve storage but merely run-of-the-river dams, in which water is returned downstream after it has been used to generate power. In 2005, when Pakistan complained about another Indian hydro project, the dispute went to arbitration. That resulted in a ruling broadly favourable to India. Pakistan feels that the spirit of the agreement has been breached and the treaty needs revision, partly because advances in technology make it possible to build dams that were not foreseen when the deal was signed. Prof. John Briscoe’s thesis “War or Peace on the Indus” based on his book.
A report by Sir David Lilienthial prepared on Pakistan’s water supply based on instructions of President Truman in 1951 noted that “Why the flow of Punjab’s lifeline was so carelessly handled in the partition no one seems to know. Pakistan includes some of the most productive food growing lands in the world in western Punjab and Sindh. But without water for irrigation this would be a desert. 20 million acres would dry up in a week. Tens of millions would starve. No army with bombs and shellfire could devastate a land as thoroughly as Pakistan could be devastated by a simple expedient of India’s permanently shutting off the sources of water supply. The partition gave the major part of the irrigated land of Punjab and Sindh to Pakistan but the headworks of the largest irrigation canals that feed Pakistan are based in India. Two thirds of the river supply of Indus originates from Kashmir where the snow fed Indus rises”
SOLUTIONS
Building small, medium sized and mega dams. Pakistan badly needs more reservoirs. Storage is essential to providing supplies in winter (two-fifths of the Indus's flow comes from the summer melting of glaciers) but Pakistan's two big dams (Mangla & Turbela) are silting up. Pakistan would like to build a new one (Diamer Basha) in Pakistani Kashmir, but India has objected, and the money is not forthcoming. Storage would be the main benefit offered by Diamer Bhasha, besides the much-needed electricity generation and flood control. Another big dam, Kalabagh, under discussion for years, may never be built, because it would be in Punjab province and Sindh has objected
But many experts believe that Pakistan also needs some megadams, which are more controversial. They point out that, whereas America and Australia have dams that can hold 900 days-worth of river run-off, Pakistan can barely store 30 days-worth in the Indus basin.
Repairing and modernising canal systems
Developing spate irrigation schemes that divert flash floods to replenish aquifers.
Stopping electricity subsidies that encourage water-intensive agriculture
Concluded
So how can we contribute to alleviate the coming water crisis. Perhaps the time has come to choosing drought tolerant plants like Bouganvilla and how about creating a post on drought tolerant plants?
I am thankful to our esteemed member & valued contributor (Dr Farooq for his input, yes he is a PhD in Chemistry and i am revealing this information only after seeking his consent).
Note: The excerpts in the post were based on excerpts taken from the following link and viewers interested can visit the url for further details.
To the last drop: How to avoid water wars
http://www.economist.com/node/16136364
Going with the flow
http://www.economist.com/node/21546883
Report on water “Save Water: Save Pakistan” prepared by Pakistan Business Council which can be downloaded in the url mentioned below.
Part A: http://www.pbc.org.pk/assets/pdf/Water_ ... Part_1.pdf
Part B: http://www.pbc.org.pk/assets/pdf/Water_ ... Part_2.pdf
http://www.pbc.org.pk/assets/pdf/Water_Presentation.pdf
A few facts on the harsh ground reality based on reports of Economist Magazine and Pakistan Business Council. The facts are quite alarming are as follows:
Pakistan is one of World’s most arid countries.
Availability of water/person has dropped from 5000 cubit metres in the 1950’s to 1100 cubic metres in 2012.
¼ th of Pakistan’s land is cultivated consuming 90% of its fresh water supplies.
Intensive irrigation regimes and poor drainage practices have caused water logging and soil salinity throughout Pakistan's countryside rendering to waste vast expanses of rich agricultural lands which are now too wet or salty to yield any meaningful harvests.
By 2025 it is estimated that water supply in Pakistan will fall short of demand by roughly 100 million cubic metres (around half the flow of river Indus)
20 Hydel Projects being constructed by India on western rivers (Indus, Jehlum and Chenab) allocated to Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty. 10 more Hydel projects are in the pipeline and many more slated for completion by India.
Each of these projects conform to the letter of the Indus Water Treaty, since it does not involve storage but merely run-of-the-river dams, in which water is returned downstream after it has been used to generate power. In 2005, when Pakistan complained about another Indian hydro project, the dispute went to arbitration. That resulted in a ruling broadly favourable to India. Pakistan feels that the spirit of the agreement has been breached and the treaty needs revision, partly because advances in technology make it possible to build dams that were not foreseen when the deal was signed. Prof. John Briscoe’s thesis “War or Peace on the Indus” based on his book.
A report by Sir David Lilienthial prepared on Pakistan’s water supply based on instructions of President Truman in 1951 noted that “Why the flow of Punjab’s lifeline was so carelessly handled in the partition no one seems to know. Pakistan includes some of the most productive food growing lands in the world in western Punjab and Sindh. But without water for irrigation this would be a desert. 20 million acres would dry up in a week. Tens of millions would starve. No army with bombs and shellfire could devastate a land as thoroughly as Pakistan could be devastated by a simple expedient of India’s permanently shutting off the sources of water supply. The partition gave the major part of the irrigated land of Punjab and Sindh to Pakistan but the headworks of the largest irrigation canals that feed Pakistan are based in India. Two thirds of the river supply of Indus originates from Kashmir where the snow fed Indus rises”
SOLUTIONS
Building small, medium sized and mega dams. Pakistan badly needs more reservoirs. Storage is essential to providing supplies in winter (two-fifths of the Indus's flow comes from the summer melting of glaciers) but Pakistan's two big dams (Mangla & Turbela) are silting up. Pakistan would like to build a new one (Diamer Basha) in Pakistani Kashmir, but India has objected, and the money is not forthcoming. Storage would be the main benefit offered by Diamer Bhasha, besides the much-needed electricity generation and flood control. Another big dam, Kalabagh, under discussion for years, may never be built, because it would be in Punjab province and Sindh has objected
But many experts believe that Pakistan also needs some megadams, which are more controversial. They point out that, whereas America and Australia have dams that can hold 900 days-worth of river run-off, Pakistan can barely store 30 days-worth in the Indus basin.
Repairing and modernising canal systems
Developing spate irrigation schemes that divert flash floods to replenish aquifers.
Stopping electricity subsidies that encourage water-intensive agriculture
Concluded
So how can we contribute to alleviate the coming water crisis. Perhaps the time has come to choosing drought tolerant plants like Bouganvilla and how about creating a post on drought tolerant plants?
I am thankful to our esteemed member & valued contributor (Dr Farooq for his input, yes he is a PhD in Chemistry and i am revealing this information only after seeking his consent).
Note: The excerpts in the post were based on excerpts taken from the following link and viewers interested can visit the url for further details.
To the last drop: How to avoid water wars
http://www.economist.com/node/16136364
Going with the flow
http://www.economist.com/node/21546883
Report on water “Save Water: Save Pakistan” prepared by Pakistan Business Council which can be downloaded in the url mentioned below.
Part A: http://www.pbc.org.pk/assets/pdf/Water_ ... Part_1.pdf
Part B: http://www.pbc.org.pk/assets/pdf/Water_ ... Part_2.pdf
http://www.pbc.org.pk/assets/pdf/Water_Presentation.pdf