Overview of water resources in Pakistan (original) (raw)
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Water management in Pakistan's Indus Basin: challenges and opportunities
Water Policy
The Indus River System is a major source of life in Pakistan. A vast array of Pakistan's agricultural and domestic consumption needs are critically dependent on the Indus River System. The Indus River contributes towards 25% of the country's gross domestic product, providing water for almost 90% of the food production in Pakistan. Linked to the water security issues, Pakistan is potentially at risk of facing a severe food shortage in the near future. The World Bank report of 2020–2021 estimates that the water shortage will increase to 32% by 2025, which will result in a food shortage of almost 70 million tons. Water shortage could also result in confrontation between the provinces as river sharing has always been a source of problem for Pakistan. According to recent estimates, siltation and climate change will reduce the water storage capacity by 2025 to almost 30%. As for the per capita water storage capacity in Pakistan, it is about 150 m3, which is quite meagre in compari...
Pakistan's Water Resources: From Retrospect to Prospect
Pakistan’s Water Outlook: Issues and Impacts, 2021
This chapter introduces the subject of Pakistan's water resources with a retrospective view, beginning with pre-independence water issues in the Sutlej River valley that brought the governments of India, Punjab, Sindh, and the princely states of Bahawalpur and Bikaner together in regional negotiations. Concurrent nationalist movements placed limited emphasis on water resources and the Indus Basin at that time. After partition, however, protracted water negotiations in the context of wider boundary uncertainties led to the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960. The late-twentieth century witnessed water transfers that redistributed water from Pakistan's western rivers to eastern river canal commands to compensate for reduced flows from India, which was followed by a period of unprecedented private tubewell development and associated problems. The massive 2010 flood marked another turning point in Indus Basin consciousness. New management methods and tools are ushering in changes in science and technology, though their impact on water productivity, environmental quality, and interstate cooperation remains uncertain. We conclude therefore with reflections on emerging challenges and a new vision of the Indus Basin as a garden.
Water is the basic human need and as we know a human can live up to 80 days without food, but only a few days without water. Water is the basic need of every living thing on earth as we know no living thing can live without water. However, its use in unbalanced and unmanaged way has made it reduced its quantity to a great extent. Pakistan is now facing a big challenge to meet the requirements for its population and water is becoming scarce in Pakistan. In Pakistan, about 96% of its available water is being utilized for agriculture and the remaining 4% for domestic, industrial and other purposes. Per capita water availability has decreased from 5300 m3 in 1951 to 850 m3 by the year 2013. Indus River Basin The Indus basin covers about 386,000 square miles area and touches China, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan). catchment of Indus Basin contains some of the largest glaciers in the world. Glaciers are spread in an area of about 2,250 km2 and most of the water comes from there in the summer. Its source is Tibetan plateau and Indus river initially flows in north west direction before it bends into south to flow south west making its way through Pakistan to the Arabian sea. Snow and glacier water is the main source of input for this river system as there isn't much rainfall in this region. The lower reaches are very braided, meaning the river has many channels, and flow is slow though the waterless plains region where evaporation is also very high. The river ends in a low triangular area of alluvial deposits where it divides before entering the sea (i.e. a delta) which includes numerous mangroves. These mangroves are an important reserve not only for the wildlife and maintaining diversity of plants and animals in the environment but also for the millions of people who depend on them including the fishermen living there. The whole system relies strongly on glacial water, making it vulnerable to change particularly the increased temperatures which can change the speed at which the glaciers will melt down which means river-flow in the Indus will be largely affected.
Indus Water Treaty and Water Scarcity in India: Implications for Pakistan
Journal of South Asian Studies
Pakistan has been facing a water crisis since the day it emerged on the map. The issue of the water crisis is deeply rooted in Pakistan's creation. The partition of the subcontinent not only divided the landmass between India and Pakistan but also the Indus River Basin. The rivers of the region were not entirely divided between the two states; they were rather shared. The water dispute was among the initial problems that created conflict between these two newly established countries. The Indus River Basin deeply affected the economy, society, culture, and political scenario of the subcontinent. Consequently, the water dispute is one of the major and initial conflicts that intertwine with the territorial disputes. The World Bank presented its proposal for the division of rivers. With the mediation of the World Bank, the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) was signed between Pakistan and India in 1960. Three Western rivers, the Indus, the Chenab, and the Jhelum, were to be given to Pakistan,...
India, Pakistan, Water and the Indus Basin: Old Problems New Challenges
The Partition of India divided the largest contiguous gravity flow irrigation system on the planet, creating a new riparian relationship between India and Pakistan over the Indus Basin. Whilst the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 has been successful in defining the rights of the riparians over the rivers of the Indus Basin for the past six decades, new challenges such as climate change and unsustainable groundwater mining are raising water- and food-security concerns that the Treaty was neither intended to nor envisioned to deal with. Emerging regional developments, such as China’s One Belt One Road Project and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor also challenge the fundamental regional security framework. In this paper, the emerging challenges of the Indus Basin are set against these new challenges as well as the past application of the Treaty. The review of the application of the Treaty reveals that while India and Pakistan make rights-based claims on the Treaty, they are willing to accept needs-based decisions, possibly opening new areas of consensus in trans-boundary water management. In examining this ageing Treaty’s limitations against these development, new transboundary water management challenges, and opportunities, emerge.
The Indus Basin is indispensable: An agro-hydropower dependency of India and Pakistan
Journal of Political Studies, Lahore, 2018
The importance of water is undeniable for the human and states' survival. Since World water level is constantly on decline, the future conflicts are most likely to develop over the control of this dying source of life. South Asian region is one of the vulnerable region of the World due to the nuclear neighbors; India and Pakistan. There are many unresolved issues including distribution and sharing of the waters of Indus Basin comprises of six rivers; the Indus, Jehlum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. Both these states have heavy reliance on the water of these rivers, since Pakistan is an agriculture state at the same time almost 60% of Indian society lives in rural areas and agriculture production in India has significant contribution in the total GDP of the state. Moreover, the hydropower generation in both these states is also attached to the uninterrupted flow of the water from the rivers. Thus the water of the Indus basin is indispensable reality of the South Asian politics and tussle for the control over it may lead to future conflict between the two states.
2021
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