Lack Of Political Will Primary Reason For Poor Groundwater Management

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Jun, 2022 ) :Pakistan possesses the largest aquifer in the world but the lack of political will of previous regimes, unavailability of data, ground information and disregard of laws are the Primary reasons for poor groundwater management in Pakistan.

An official of the Ministry of Water Resources told APP that the country has introduced numerous laws and regulations for sustainable use and management of groundwater resources, but the success has so far been limited due to weak implementation and incapable administrative instruments.

An integrated water resource management approach that brings together relevant government departments, political leadership, knowledge institutions, and other stakeholders could be an attractive option to achieve the elusive goal of protecting depleting groundwater resources.

Unchecked groundwater exploitation has created severe environmental problems including rapidly falling groundwater levels in the irrigated areas and increased soil salinization problems, he informed.

While elaborating the freshwater usage and a detailed scenario of water consumption of the country, the official said the surface water supplies were sufficient to irrigate 27% of the area, whereas the remaining 73% was directly or indirectly irrigated using groundwater.

"The Punjab province uses more than 90% of the total groundwater extraction. Currently, 1.2 million private tubewells are working in the country, out of which 85% are in Punjab, 6.4% are in Sindh, 3.8% are in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and 4.8% are in Baluchistan. The total groundwater extraction in Pakistan was about 60 billion cubic meters." The access to groundwater has helped farmers in securing food for the increasing population of the country, he said, adding that the groundwater levels in more than 50% of the irrigated areas of Punjab have dropped below 6 meters, resulting in increased pumping cost and degraded groundwater quality, he added.

Despite hectic efforts, he said about 21% of the irrigated area was affected by different levels of salinity. During the previous Fiscal Year 2021-22, an amount of Rs 90.312 billion (10 percent of total PSDP) were allocated for 91 water sector's development projects and studies (including Mohmand Dam Rs 15 billion, Diamer Basha Dam Rs 8 billion, Diamer Basha Land Acquisition Rs 7 billion and Kachhi Canal 12 billion).

He further mentioned that under the Southern Balochistan Package, approval of 17 water sector projects including Sunni Gar, Panjgur, Gish Kaur, Awaran and Shehznek dams and one umbrella PC-II covering 10 feasibility studies has been accorded.

Under Sindh Package Feasibility study, detailed engineering design, tender documents and PC-I of Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Kashmore Drainage Projects, feasibility for construction of Drainage network in Taulka Ubauro, Daharki, Khangar, Mirpur Mathelo of District Ghotki and construction of small Storage Dams, Delay Action Dams, Recharge Weirs and I.S.S.O barriers were initiated, he said.

The Minister of Water Resources official added that revised PC-I of Naulong Multipurpose Dam Project (Jhal Magsi, Balochistan) amounting to Rs 39.9 billion was recommended to ECNEC by CDWP. Consultants for detailed engineering design of Hingol Dam Project having 65,000 acres CCA in Lasbela, Balochistan was also under finalization, he informed.

He cautioned that due to gradual decrease in the surface water inflow at rim stations, water availability at canal head for Kharif season 2021-22 remained 67.14 million acre feet (MAF) compared to 68.04 MAF in Kharif season 2020-21. In Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa construction of medium, small, delay action dams and recharge dams remained in progress in the past Fiscal Year 2022.

He also revealed that the main targets for 2018-30 under National Water Policy (2018) were 33 percent reduction in the 46 MAF river flows lost in conveyance through watercourses lining, live storage capacity enhancement of 10 MAF, 20 percent increase in water use efficiency through modern irrigation techniques, refurbishment of irrigation infrastructure, real-time monitoring of water distribution for transparent water accounting and development of unified authentic database to have reliable water resources assessment.

The Government's existing strategy of "Integrated Water Resources Management" recognizes the need to introduce appropriate policy measures, institutional reforms, and knowledge-based interventions to make water infrastructure and management system more efficient and sustainable, he added.