Optimal groundwater management in Pakistan’s Indus Water Basin

Optimal groundwater management in Pakistan’s Indus Water Basin PDF Author: Nasim Sanval
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Book Description
In this report we examine the management of groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin through a model of groundwater extraction with hydrologic, economic, and tenure constraints. We develop a groundwater extraction model for the Indus Basin and simulate the effect of common property management (the status quo in the Indus Basin) and optimal management on groundwater extractions, water table height, groundwater quality, and annual net benefits from irrigated agriculture. The analysis provides a framework to develop and discuss policies that could lead to the optimal management of groundwater.

Optimal groundwater management in Pakistan’s Indus Water Basin

Optimal groundwater management in Pakistan’s Indus Water Basin PDF Author: Nasim Sanval
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 42

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this report we examine the management of groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin through a model of groundwater extraction with hydrologic, economic, and tenure constraints. We develop a groundwater extraction model for the Indus Basin and simulate the effect of common property management (the status quo in the Indus Basin) and optimal management on groundwater extractions, water table height, groundwater quality, and annual net benefits from irrigated agriculture. The analysis provides a framework to develop and discuss policies that could lead to the optimal management of groundwater.

The Economics of Groundwater Irrigation in the Indus Basin, Pakistan

The Economics of Groundwater Irrigation in the Indus Basin, Pakistan PDF Author: Muhammad Arif Watto
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
[Truncated] This PhD study explored the economics of groundwater irrigation in the Indus basin of Pakistan where groundwater exploitation is escalating due to high irrigation water demands. Recent trends in groundwater withdrawals for irrigation and increases in number of tube-wells have brought into greater prominence the challenge to control groundwater over-exploitation. Besides this, hydrological assessments indicate that groundwater extraction rates have exceeded the annual recharge rates the available literature highlights the inefficient use of water resources in the irrigation sector. This study had four main objectives: 1) to review the causes and consequences of groundwater overdrafting in the region; 2) to investigate farmers' adoption decisions regarding tube-well technology; 3) to analyse irrigation water use efficiency for different crop enterprises; and 4) to estimate the derived demand for irrigation. Data used for analyses come from a survey of 200 rural households that predominately use groundwater for irrigation in the arid to semi-arid plains of the Punjab province of Pakistan. The review found that groundwater expansion in the Indus basin was mainly as a result of the rigidity of the surface water allocation system, increased crop intensities during the Green Revolution and the division of the Indus river tributaries under the Indus Water Treaty in the 1960s. Later, overexploitation of groundwater was as a result of increase in population and lack of effective groundwater management policies. A moment-based approach was used to analyse farmers' decisions to adopt tube-well technology when groundwater table is declining. The estimation procedure consisted of two steps. First, the moments of profit distribution were computed using an expected utility maximization framework. In the next step, the estimated moments were incorporated into a probit model to estimate their impact on tube-well adoption decisions. Analysis of tube-well adoption decision reveals that farmers are not risk-neutral. The results indicate that the probability of tube-well adoption increases significantly with increase in expected mean and variance of profit. The non-significant third moment (skewness) indicates that downside profit risk does not have significant impact on tube-well adoption. The highly significant fourth moment (kurtosis) indicates that adoption of tube-well technology decreases significantly in the presence of extreme events.

Water Resources of Pakistan

Water Resources of Pakistan PDF Author: Muhammad Arif Watto
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030656799
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
This book presents the first comprehensive assessment of water resources in Pakistan including surface water resources and groundwater resources. It gives a detailed overview of issues and challenges related to water which have not been adequately addressed e.g. water resource vulnerability to climate change, groundwater depletion and contamination, and water governance etc. It includes a collection and compilation of unpublished and scattered data from the archives and repositories of various national institutions and organization. Given the literature dearth, this book will not only be a comprehensive assessment of water resources in Pakistan but can also can as outstanding textbook on water resource management in Pakistan. It will attract a great range of readership including water specialists, researchers, undergraduate and post graduate students and policy makers from Pakistan as well as from overseas.

The Indus Basin of Pakistan

The Indus Basin of Pakistan PDF Author: Winston H. Yu
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821398741
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
This study, Indus basin of Pakistan: the impacts of climate risks on water and agriculture was undertaken at a pivotal time in the region. The weak summer monsoon in 2009 created drought conditions throughout the country. This followed an already tenuous situation for many rural households faced with high fuel and fertilizer costs and the impacts of rising global food prices. Then catastrophic monsoon flooding in 2010 affected over 20 million people, devastating their housing, infrastructure, and crops. Damages from this single flood event were estimated at US dollar 10 billion, half of which were losses in the agriculture sector. Notwithstanding the debate as to whether these observed extremes are evidence of climate change, an investigation is needed regarding the extent to which the country is resilient to these shocks. It is thus timely, if not critical, to focus on climate risks for water, agriculture, and food security in the Indus basin of Pakistan.

Strategies for the Management of Conjunctive Use of Surface Water and Groundwater Resources in Semi-arid Areas

Strategies for the Management of Conjunctive Use of Surface Water and Groundwater Resources in Semi-arid Areas PDF Author: Asad Sarwar Qureshi
Publisher: IWMI
ISBN: 9290905794
Category : Groundwater
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
Due to inadequate rainfall, groundwater has acquired a vital role in the development of Pakistan's agricultural economy. However, a lack of awareness concerning the use of groundwater, either by itself or combined with canal water, has added large amounts of salt to the soil. As a result, large tracts of irrigated lands are already salinized, while many others are under threat. This report presents the results of a modeling study carried out to evaluate the long-term effects of a different quality of irrigation water on root zone salinity. The simulations were performed for the Rechna Doab (sub basin of the Indus Basin) in Pakistan, by using 15 years of actual rainfall and climatic data.

Strategies to Mitigate Secondary Salinization in the Indus Basin of Pakistan

Strategies to Mitigate Secondary Salinization in the Indus Basin of Pakistan PDF Author: Aslam, M., Prathapar, S. A.
Publisher: IWMI
ISBN: 9290906162
Category : Irrigation
Languages : en
Pages : 31

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Book Description
ThisThis report discusses the nature and causes of secondary salinization, reviews strategies developed and tested within IBIS to mitigate salinization, and identifies areas requiring further investigation.

Allocative Efficiency and Optimal Management of Groundwater in Pakistan's Agricultural Sector

Allocative Efficiency and Optimal Management of Groundwater in Pakistan's Agricultural Sector PDF Author: Sanval Nasim
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781339466903
Category : Groundwater
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
This dissertation comprises three studies on Pakistan in which I examine the allocative efficiency of groundwater across farm-level constraints; the optimal management of groundwater given differences in agricultural tenure; and the effect of a set of policies on the utilization of groundwater. In the first chapter, I estimate the allocative inefficiency of groundwater in Pakistani agriculture using a panel dataset of rural households and show that the utilization of groundwater varies across a set of farm-level constraints (tenure, farm size, access to surface water and location on a watercourse). In the second chapter, I examine the long-run trend of groundwater depletion in Pakistan's Indus Water Basin under common-pool resource management--the status quo--and under optimal management. I develop a dynamic optimization problem to illustrate long-run steady states of groundwater pumping under different management, hydrologic, economic and tenure assumptions. The analysis shows that the benefits of optimal management exceed the benefits of common property management, and that the small share of sharecropping does not have an important effect on the results. In the third chapter, I use a panel dataset of rural households--the same dataset used in the analysis in the first chapter--to examine the effects of two water policies--increasing access to surface water and increasing the reliability of the supply of surface water (as measured by being located higher up on a watercourse)--on the allocative efficiency of groundwater and land productivity. The results show that farms allocate groundwater more efficiently (over utilization decreases) as the share of total farm area with access to surface water increases while increasing the reliability of surface water supply does not appear to improve the utilization of groundwater. Increasing the share of total area with access to surface water has a modest effect on land productivity. My research emphasizes the relationship between groundwater conservation and the institutional environment of farms in Pakistan's agricultural sector, and helps to inform the larger discussion on the effective governance of water resources in the region.

Water Policy in Pakistan

Water Policy in Pakistan PDF Author: Mahmood Ahmad
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031361318
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
The water policy issues are well- documented in a large set of reports and studies, completed over time showing that the policy prescription and its implementation has been weak in the past as this book reveals. The key reforms initiated were lost due to a lack of government’s will and commitment and more so by pervasive political economy of water. Given this background, each chapter in the book follows a balanced approach in seeking and evaluating alternate solutions to water management issues, especially improvements in water governance and tackling new challenges emerging from the climate change in the short and long term. This approach underpins the importance of moving from the culture of piloting projects to actual implementation on an impact-oriented scale. The book would also highlight that most of the water solutions lie outside the water sector such as agriculture, population, economy, etc. Post COVID-19 policies are exploring new food-health nexus that calls for nature based solutions for our future agriculture growth. The book would show case pioneer work underway in Pakistan on how new policy discourse can reduce water use in agriculture without investing in expensive water technology and infrastructure, thus saving enough water for other competing purposes.

Strengthening groundwater governance in Pakistan

Strengthening groundwater governance in Pakistan PDF Author: Rana, Abdul Wajid
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 79

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Book Description
Pakistan is highly dependent on irrigated agriculture for employment, income generation and food security—around 90 percent of all food production relies on either surface or groundwater irrigation. The growing dependence of agriculture but also industries and the drinking water sector on groundwater has led to the overexploitation of groundwater resources and, in some areas, to the deterioration of groundwater quality. Fiscal incentives for solarization of irrigation/drinking water pumps are likely to further increase water withdrawals and make water governance more complex. To understand the perspectives of groundwater users, a qualitative study was conducted in the alluvial groundwater systems of Punjab as well as the hard rock systems of Balochistan. Interviews with key informants at federal, provincial, and district level were also conducted to capture insights from additional decisionmakers affecting groundwater management and governance. The study identified a series of challenges around groundwater management and use, including overexploitation of groundwater resources, worsening groundwater quality raising serious health challenges, lack of communities’ participation in decision making, particularly women, non-availability of actionable data, weak enforcement of laws and regulations relating to groundwater governance, and partisan decision-making driven by political influentials and local bureaucracies. Solarization of irrigation pumps without proper regulatory and monitoring framework is expected to exacerbate groundwater extraction and accelerate water stress. The study strongly suggests an urgent need for not only integrated water management at all levels with equitable distribution of water resources but also to engage local communities and other stakeholders, including women in water conservancy awareness campaigns, groundwater quality monitoring, and decision-making. Moreover, the management and governance of water, particularly groundwater, must be insulated from political and partisan decision making. It is equally important to look at the quality of groundwater from a wider prism, considering health and water supply, sanitation and hygiene to address the increase in water borne diseases.

Assessment of water allocations using remote sensing and GIS modeling for Indus Basin, Pakistan

Assessment of water allocations using remote sensing and GIS modeling for Indus Basin, Pakistan PDF Author: Cheema, Muhammad Jehanzeb Masud
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
Water allocations for canal commands are not uniform throughout Pakistan. They vary from 2.5 to 15 cusec (ft3/sec) per 1,000 acres (i.e. 0.18 – 1.1 litre/sec/hectare) for different canal commands. This variability in water allowance (WA) has resulted in low water productivity (kg of yield per m3 of water use), an indicator used to assess efficient water use, especially in command areas having higher water allocations. In this study, satellite imagery was used to estimate crop water use and corresponding water productivity for each canal command area of the Indus Basin Irriga-tion System. Three years were selected for the study and two representative canal commands (Lower Chenab and Muzaffargarh Canal) were selected for detailed analysis and ground truthing. Spatially distributed maps of land use, crop water use, groundwater use and quality, soil and water salinity, and crop yields at a pixel resolution of 250 m (6.25 ha) were prepared and then verified by field surveys. GIS maps of canal water availability/supply were also prepared to account for the volume of water supplied through irrigation. This spatial database was used to evaluate and create maps of water productivity in the different canal commands.