Dr. Shahid Ahmad, Shams ul Mulk, and Dr. Amir Muhammad 1

Transcription

1 Groundwater Management in Pakistan Dr. Shahid Ahmad, Shams ul Mulk, and Dr. Amir Muhammad 1 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 19 th 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 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 m 3, out of which 36 billion m 3 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.

2 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 19 th century to meet the designed cropping intensity of 60-70%. 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 m 3 during and then started decreasing. In , around 60 billion m 3 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 19 th 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

3 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 m 3 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 19 th 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 Since the introduction of the canal irrigation system, percolation to the

4 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 m 3 during the pre-storage period ( ), which was 11% of the total water available for agriculture 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 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 Total Area Percent Area under Water Table Depth in meters Total (mha) < >3 Misc. <3 m Punjab Sindh Balochistan NWFP Total Additional water supplies from Mangla and Tarbela storage dams diverted to the newly constructed canal commands also contributed to recharge of groundwater. One of the examples is the Chashma Right Bank Canal command area, where rise in water table has been observed creating a freshwater aquifer (Alurrade et al., 1998). However, for sustainability purpose, subsurface drainage has to be provided to control water table depth. In fact the rise in water table was faster than expected and required an additional loan to introduce drainage. Water budget of the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) is presented in Figure 1. The river system losses are around 12 billion m 3 at 50% probability. The canal conveyance losses are in the order of 31 billion m 3. The watercourse losses are assumed as 28 billion m 3. Therefore, the total water conveyance losses in the IBIS are around 71 billion m 3 (Ahmad and Rashida 2001). Assuming that 90% of the conveyance losses contribute to the recharge, which is around 64

5 billion m 3. Further assumption is made that field application losses do not contribute significantly towards recharging the groundwater, as the fields are normally under-irrigated and losses can be recovered as capillary rise. However, in areas where over-irrigation is practised, the recharge from irrigated fields is high and waterlogging is prevailing, especially in the saline groundwater zone due to reduced pumping. These estimates are in line with previous estimates of Zuberi and Sufi (1992), where they estimated recharge of 56 billion m 3. However, as over-irrigation is practised in canal commands having water allocation of over 3 cfs/1000 acres, the recharge will be more than 56 billion m 3. The additional conveyance losses in the IBIS due to Tarbela contributed 10% to the overall recharge of groundwater (Ahmad 1993a). Groundwater sources require continuous or periodical replenishment through rainfall or surface water bodies. Pakistan s, potential storage is the aquifer system of Indus Plain and mountainous valley of NWFP and Balochistan. Out of the country s geographical area of 79.6 million ha, the alluvium occupies 50.5 million ha. Hydro-geological investigations were carried out in about 30.0 million ha alluvial areas and 3.34 million ha of desert areas. Groundwater resources are heavily over-exploited to fulfil the demands of irrigation and urban utilization. There are clear evidences that groundwater withdrawal is more than annual average recharge in areas outside the Indus basin. As a result, water table is continuously depleting in all the urban areas and in Balochistan province, which relies exclusively on groundwater, water table is going down 0.6 to 0.9 meters annually on the average. Nevertheless, overall figures indicate that estimated conservative figure for safe yield is 68 billion m 3, whereas 60 billion m 3 are being extracted at present. This indicates that available groundwater potential for exploitation is around 8 billion m Resource Quality Total annual groundwater potential in Pakistan is estimated at 68 billion m 3. The annual groundwater pumpage has increased from 4 billion m 3 in 1959 to around 60 billion m 3 in About 79 % area in Punjab and 28% area in Sindh have fresh groundwater suitable for agriculture (Afzal 1999; Bhutta 1999). Since most of the easily exploitable surface water resources have already been tapped, the future demand of water for agriculture, people and nature will have to be met largely through water conservation and further exploitation of already over-mined groundwater resources. Quality of groundwater varies widely, ranging from less than 1,000 ppm to more than 3000 ppm. Some 5.75 mha are underlain with groundwater having salinity less than 1000 ppm, 1.84 mha with salinity ranging from 1000 to 3000 ppm and 4.28 mha with salinity more than 3000 ppm. Although investments in drainage have been significant in Pakistan during the last two decades, waterlogging still affects large tracts of land (WB 1994). Salinity and sodicity also constrain farmers and affect agricultural production. These problems are further exacerbated by the use of poor quality groundwater (Kijne and Kuper 1995). In fresh groundwater areas, excessive pumping by private tubewells leads to mining of the aquifer (NESPAK 1991) and redistribution of the groundwater quality (Zuberi and Sufi 1992; WRRI, MONA and IIMI 1999).

6 Recharge to the freshwater zone due to the additional supplies from Tarbela has contributed significantly in maintaining groundwater quality. However, recharge to the brackish groundwater zone created serious quality concerns for the disposal of the saline effluents despite creating a top layer of potable water for the concerned population (Ahmad 1993b). This problem was mainly due to the approach followed for drainage of area under the SCARPs in brackish groundwater zone, where saline groundwater was pumped from deeper depths (Ahmad 1990). Mining of groundwater, which is presently occurring in many areas, will cause intrusion of saline groundwater into the fresh groundwater areas. In addition, seepage of water from farmland will add dissolved fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides to groundwater. This will further increase pollution of groundwater and deteriorate its quality. The use of polluted groundwater for drinking may cause serious health hazards and its use for irrigated agriculture may adversely affect production potential of irrigated lands due to aggravation of the problem of salinity, sodicity and specific ions effect on crops and plants. It is essential to minimise groundwater pollution to improve its quality as far as possible through regulation of groundwater extraction and/or increasing the recharge in areas where mining of groundwater is taking place. 3. Groundwater Use 3.1. Agriculture Water Use Tubewells Development Enhanced power generation from Tarbela and the government policy of price incentives for electric power motivated farmers to install electric tubewells. Consequently, there was more than three-fold increase in the number of tubewells in as compared to the pre-tarbela situation. The innovative and low cost development of tubewells technology in the country further motivated the farmers to install diesel-operated tubewells. Progressive increase in electricity tariffs starting in early 90s resulted in stagnation of the growth of the electric tubewells. However, a two-fold increase in diesel tubewells was observed during This is a clear indication of the effect of Tarbela and power policy of the government during late 70s and 80s on the growth of tubewells and development of innovative tubewells technology in the country (Table 2). Table 2. Tubewells (Electric and Diesel) development in Pakistan Period Number of Tubewells Percent Increase Electric Diesel Total Electric Diesel Total Source: Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, 2000.

7 Recent drought of 1999 to 2002 was so severe that farmers in the Punjab and Sindh provinces have installed tubewells at a very rapid rate. It is expected that around 60,000 tubewells or lift irrigation systems were installed during the last three years to meet the historical shortfalls in the canal water supplies Groundwater Contribution In the last 21 years ( ), the groundwater contribution to irrigated agriculture has doubled from 31.6 to 62.2 BCM (GOP 1998; GOP 2000). The country has made considerable progress in the development of innovative and indigenous tubewells technology. However, with the rise of the electricity tariff and diesel fuel prices and the problem of soil salinity in marginal quality zones, there was a recent decline in the groundwater pumpage, during , to the order of 50 billion m 3, which was a significant decrease (Table 3). Even the reduced level of groundwater contributed 38% to the surface water available at the canal head. Table 3. Period Groundwater contribution to irrigation water supplies in the Indus basin Groundwater Increase in Groundwater Contribution Contribution (BCM) (%) Contribution as Percent of the Canal Diversions ** ** ** Source: Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, * Base year of is used for computations. ** Average value of canal diversion of 130 BCM is used for computations. Another contributing factor in reduced groundwater pumpage was transition of the public tubewells under SCARPs, where the community refused to take over the deep tubewells because of high O&M cost. The SCARP Transition Projects were aimed at reducing public involvement in the groundwater sector by closing down or transferring public tubewells to the water users (WB 1988). Recent drought during 1999 to 2002 forced farmers to install tubewells to meet shortfalls in canal water supplies. It is expected that the canal supplies during will be 40% less than the historical average. Thus the groundwater abstraction was more than the recharge rather in certain areas farmers have faced problems of lowering of water table. The groundwater contribution during the last three years again reached to the level of 60 billion m 3 (Table 3).

8 3.2. Domestic Water Supply Water supply and sanitation sector in Pakistan is characterised by extremely low level of coverage particularly in rural area. Presently, only 80% of the urban population have access to piped water supply, whereas 11% of rural population is benefiting from this facility (PWP 1999). Table 4 shows the present water supply to various urban centres in Pakistan. Water supply systems in the urban centres of Pakistan are based on either by the utilisation of surface water or groundwater abstraction through tubewells. The cities, which depend on surface water for their drinking water needs include among others the Islamabad, Karachi and Hyderabad. The water supply of Lahore, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Abbotabad and Quetta is mostly dependent on groundwater. Almost all the cities depending on surface supplies face moderate to acute shortage of water, whereas the situation in Lahore and Peshawar can be considered somewhat satisfactory due to the presence of a high yielding aquifer. Table 4. Estimated water and sewage flows in urban cities of Pakistan. City Population Water Supply Sewage Flow 1998 (million) Rate (gpcd) Total (mgd) Ratio (%) Rate (gpcd) Total (mgd) Islamabad Karachi Lahore Faisalabad Multan Hyderabad Gujranwala Peshawar Quetta Sargodha Sialkot Sukkur Mardan Kasur * gpcd -- gallons per capita per day ** mgd -- million gallons per day Rural areas depend on groundwater for domestic water supplies whereever available, but in irrigated areas underlain with saline groundwater, canal waters are used to satisfy the domestic requirements. Outside the canal commands, where groundwater cannot be depended upon, rural water supply is dependent on the available stream flows in the upland areas or on rainfall collected in natural depressions, such as Tobas in the Cholistan desert. In such arid locations, the local populace is constrained to travel long distances to procure drinking water a task, which is assigned to women.

9 It is estimated that present water demand for domestic and industrial uses is about 3,302 mgd, whereas the available water for the purpose is about 2,369 mgd (PWP 1999; NESPAK 1998). Therefore, there is a net deficiency of 22% of total domestic water requirement. Recent drought was so severe that it has affected the availability of domestic water supply. For example, the availability of surface water supply in the Simly dam in Islamabad has reduced to the extent of 40% of the requirement during the year , that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has practiced rationing of water on alternate day basis to the citizens of Islamabad. This resulted in mining of groundwater in Islamabad and lowering of water table was to the tune of 3-5 m per annum in certain localities. During the current year, it is expected that CDA will have to practice rationing during the months of April to June Sanitation and Sewerage Coverage for sanitation in Pakistan is lower than the water supply coverage i.e. only 60% and 13.5% in urban and rural areas, respectively. In most of the cities of Pakistan, the wastewater from the municipal areas as well as the effluents from the industries are disposed of untreated to the natural surface water bodies. Table 4 shows the sewage generation of several urban centres of the country. In urban areas of Pakistan, sewerage consists of sewage collection and disposal system. In cities sewage is collected through RCC pipes and open drains. The collected sewerage is disposed to nearby water bodies through gravity or by inducting sewage pump stations in the system. In areas where sewage collection system is non-existing, sewage is discharged into groundwater through soakage wells, sometimes even without passing through septic tanks. In rural areas, the proper collection and disposal system is almost non-existing. The sewage is collected through open drains and disposed of in the fields, which usually forms huge ponds. Presently, the treatment of effluent waste is almost non-existence on the municipal front. Only few cities in Pakistan have proper treatment facilities. According to the recent study, most of the plants are not in operation Industrial Water Use On the industrial front very limited units have proper treatment facilities. Generally the multinational or some factories involved in the export are forced to have treatment facilities. Major industrial estates are established in Lahore, Faisalabad, Karachi, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Hattar, Kasur and Sialkot. All these Industrial Estates are discharging their effluent, without any prior treatment into the nearby water body/stream, the ultimate fate of which is the river and sea. The untreated industrial waste effluent from isolated plants is allowed to be disposed in open fields or in nearby water body. Huge ponds can be seen in various industrial estates of the country.

10 4. Groundwater Management 4.1. Salt-balance in the Indus Basin Around 92% area of Pakistan is located in arid and semi-arid climates and characterized by using ration of 50% probability of rainfall to the actual crop evapotranspiration (Roohi and Ahmad 1993; Ahmad et al. 2000b). Components of groundwater recharge are directly influenced by seasonal variations in precipitation and temperature. Increasing demands of water for irrigation and human consumption have further aggravated the problems of water shortage. Groundwater aquifer of the Indus basin in general and other areas of Pakistan in particular are recharged by seepage from surface water delivery system, water bodies, rainfall and snow melts. From the point of interception to the storage, percolating water undergoes a lot of chemical changes. Under the prevailing climatic conditions, salt balance in groundwater and soils to be irrigated has become an important issue. Under ideal conditions, salts must be removed from the Indus basin irrigation system at the same rate at which they are added to the system. It has been estimated that over 531,000 tubewells installed in the Indus basin to lower the water table and/or for supplemental irrigation, are recycling around 60 million tons of salts with water being pumped every year (60 billion m 3 ). In addition, the canal water brought around 33 million tons of salts annually to the Indus basin assuming canal diversions of 130 billion m 3. The net addition of salts to the Indus basin irrigation system is around 33 million tons contributed by the canal water annually. The salts brought by pumped groundwater represent basically recycling of salts in groundwater and in the root-zone depth. However, there are localised cases, where recycling of salts in groundwater and in the root-zone has degraded the soil to the extent that salt built-up is beyond the threshold levels, which adversely affects the productivity of agriculture. Although, in certain cases saline groundwater is mixed with irrigation water, yet, salts enter into the soils as a result of surface irrigation. Sustainability of groundwater for irrigation and municipal use needs concentration on the importance of achieving or moving towards salt balance in groundwater and irrigation system. Salt balance in groundwater and root zone is of the same significance for crop production Groundwater Quality Standards There is huge variation in the chemical quality of groundwater from one hydro-geologic basin to another. Within the Indus basin, in general, water quality deteriorates from north to south. Mountainous valleys also show the same trend. The groundwater surveys and monitoring data indicated that areas close to recharging sources, along rivers in the Indus basin and aquifers recharged through rainfall, have good quality water. Based on the field investigations and experimentations, the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has initially established criteria for irrigation using varying quality of groundwater (Table 5). These standards are based only on the criteria of water salinity, as total dissolved solids (TDS) parameter was used to describe the quality standards.

11 Table 5. Initial water quality standards for irrigation in the Indus basin by WAPDA Water Quality Class Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) (ppm) Recommended Management Strategy Non-saline or safe Without mixing Intermediate Dilution needed Saline > 4000 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 Quality Characteristics of Groundwater Use EC (mmhos/cm) TDS (ppm) SAR RSC (meq/l) 1985 Direct use Direct use :1 mixing with canal water :1 mixing with canal water 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.

12 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 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).

13 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 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

14 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 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 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.

15 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 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.

16 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 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.