Development of Water Resources.

Natural Resources
There are two types of natural resources:

1. Renewable Resources
a. Continuous
b. Sustainable
2. Non-Renewable Resources
Renewable Resources are those that can be recycled or reused. They are of two types,
sustainable and continuous. Sustainable resources are those that can be reused if they are taken
care of e.g. trees, fish. Continuous resources are the ones that never finish, and can be used
repeatedly e.g. water, wind etc.
Non-renewable resources occur in a limited quantity and will run out if used widely. e.g.
minerals oil, natural gas etc.
Water Resources.
Importance Of Rivers.
1. Scenic beauty
2. Helps in H.E.P. generation.
3. Making of reservoirs of dams and barrages and canals leading from them for irrigation
4. More organic matter in soils increased fertility.
5. Fishing in reservoirs of dams and barrages, rivers, natural lakes.
6. Irrigation to areas like Thal and Thar.
7. Domestic and industrial uses.
Need For irrigation.
1. High variability in amount, timing and distribution.
2. Long dry spells i.e. dry periods between Monsoons and Western Depressions.
3. Increased evapo-transpiration from north to south and decrease in precipitation from north
to south.
4. In some areas total number of rainy days is less than ten days.
5. Heavy rainfall in Monsoons increases run-off resulting in floods in Indus Plains.
Natural And Human Factors Leading To Development Of Canal Irrigation System.
1. Soft soil makes digging easy.
2. Flat land in upper and lower Indus plain makes it easy to maintain the gradient of canals.
3. Southward gradient of rivers and Indus plain makes it easier to construct canals.
4. Rainfall from Monsoons and melt water can be stored in reservoirs of dams to regulate the
supply of water, later to be used for irrigation.
5. Cheap labour and cement have lowered the cost of canal construction.
Advantages Of Modern Irrigation System.
1. Large/vast areas can be irrigated.
2. Take less time to irrigate.
3. Available throughout the year.
4. Not dependent on nature e.g. Wells/Tube wells
The Indus System
1. Indus is the largest river of Pakistan.
2. The glaciers and snow capped Mts. of Hindu Kush and of Himalayas and Karakorams
water it.
3. It flows in east west direction between Himalayas and Karakorams before turning to north
south direction at Sazin.
4. The River Indus enters the plains of Punjab at Kalabagh.
5. At Mithankot River Panjnad (Eastern Tributaries) meets River Indus.
6. Then, finally, it flows into the Arabian Sea.
 7. The Indus irrigates about 60% of Pakistan’s total cultivable land.
8. The River Indus has the highest mean monthly discharge in June and July.
9. The volume of water starts to rise from March onwards and decrease from August onwards
to February.

Eastern Tributaries of River Indus:-

1. River Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum are the main eastern tributaries of river
Indus.
2. These tributaries flow from the Himalayas and then enter the Indus plain.
3. All these tributaries join each other at Panjnad to become the river Panjnad, which meets
river Indus at Mithankot.
4. The volume of water in the eastern tributaries increases in summers due to the melting of
snow but mainly due to Monsoons.
Rivers to the West of River Indus:-
1. The rivers to the west of river Indus are smaller in length and width and have
comparatively less water than the eastern tributaries.
2. These rivers contain more water during the summer season due to the melting of snow.
3 The water in these rivers decreases during winters because there is no melting of snow.
Rivers of Baluchistan:-
1. Quetta, being a high altitude region, has the central position in the drainage pattern of
Baluchistan.
2. Rivers like Zhob, Khandar and the Kalachi river drain into the Indus River because they
flow eastwards. Some rivers are absorbed into the Kacchi Sibi Plains.
3. The rivers Hab, Porali, Hingol and Mashkel drain into the Arabian Sea.
4. There are shallow depressions called Hamuns.
Ground Water
Underground surface below which the ground is wholly saturated with water.
1. Shallow wells tubewells and the Karez System exploit ground water resources in Pakistan
2. It fluctuates from season to season and from region to region.
3. It is higher in the rainy season and falls in the dry season.
4. It is high in mountains and low in deserts.
5. It is extremely useful in areas where canal irrigation is not possible.
6. Ground water can be sweet or saline.
7. In industrial areas, ground water may not be fit for human consumption due to seepage of
toxic waste.
Uses of Water
1. Water is mainly used for agriculture, domestic and industrial purposes in Pakistan.
2. Over 95% of the water is used for irrigation purposes.
Domestic Uses of Water:-
1. Domestic uses of water include Drinking, Cooking Sanitation and Washing.
Industrial uses of Water:-
1. Water is required in almost all industries, mostly it is used for cooling or washing
purposes.
 2. It is used in Thermal & Hydro-electric Power Stations to generate electricity.
3. Used in Textile industry for Washing, Bleaching, Dyeing and Printing.
4. Chemical industry uses water to make acids, liquid bleach and solutions.
Irrigation
1. Irrigation is the artificial supply of water to the land to encourage plant growth.
2. In Pakistan, about 75% of the cultivated area is under irrigation.
Why we need Irrigation

1. Most of the areas of Pakistan experience arid or semi-arid conditions.

2. Monsoon winds bring most of the rainfall during summers.
3. During summers rate of evapo-transpiration is high.
4. Amount, timing and distribution are highly variable.
5. During winters there is very less rainfall only western parts are affected by Western
Depressions.
6. There is a large gap between Monsoons and Western Depressions
7. In some areas total number of rainy days is less than ten.

Conventional Systems of Irrigation.

Shaduf
1. It is used to get water from a river or a canal by a bucket which is attached to a pole
with weight on the other side.
2. It is rarely used today since it cannot be used to irrigation large piece of land.

Charsa.
 1. In Charsa, animal power is used to pull water from the well.
2. It is not used by many farmers now.

Inundation Canals
1. Long canals taken off from large rivers.
2. They only receive water when the river is high enough and especially when there is a
flood.
3. A diversion channel is also a version of an inundation canal.
Tank Irrigation
1. It is practiced by constructing mud banks across small streams or in depressions to make
a small reservoir which collects excess water during rainy season.

Persian Wheel.
1. It can be used to irrigate comparatively larger area.
2. It is powered by a blindfolded pair of bullock.
3. Bullocks turn horizontal wheel geared to a vertical wheel. The shaft leading from to vertical
wheel rotates the wheel mounted on top of well.
4. Earthen or metal pots are attached with chain or rope to the wheel mounted on the well.
5. When the wheel rotates pots raise water from the well and spill water into the channel that
leads to the fields.
Karez.
5
The Karez System
1. It is a horizontal underground canal in the foothills brings underground water to the surface.
2. Vertical wells are dug down to dig the canal, to clear and repair it and prevent blockages
and bring water to surface in valley.
3. They go dry when there is no rainfall.
(iii) Explain how this system provides water for agriculture in this area.
rain falls in mountains
drains to the foothills / sinks into ground / groundwater /
travels in tunnels / underground canals
reaches surface / oases
tunnels need maintenance
owned by groups of farmers

Modern System of Irrigation

Perennial Canals
1. Canals linked to a reservoir of a dam or a barrage is known as a perennial canal.
2. The initial cost of these canals is high but water can be made available throughout the
year.
3. Irrigates vast areas.
4. May cause water-logging and salinity.
Link Canals
Link canals take water from western rivers (Indus, Jhelum & Chenab) to eastern rivers (Ravi &
Sutlej) to compensate loss of water as a result of Indus Water Treaty. They are connected to the
reservoirs of dams and barrages.
Lined and Unlined Canals
Lined canals are those canals which are brick lined or paved with concrete to control seepage of
water where as canals made of earth/ soil are known as unlined canals.
Tubewells
1. Have diesel or electrically operated pumps that can raise water from a depth of 300 feet
or more to irrigate large areas of land.
2. Provide water throughout the year.
3. They also help to lower the water table.
Sprinklers
Sprinklers
1. Sprinklers are connected to tubewells.
2. They are centrally placed in fields to water plants.
3. They are mainly used in orchards.
4. It uses water much more efficiently. (less water irrigates large areas)
Tankers

1. Tankers collect water from tube wells, ponds and lakes etc. and provide it to households
and for irrigation.
2. It is very expensive.

Indus Water Treaty

1. In 1948 India threatened to stopped the flow of water in canals irrigating areas of Pakistan leading
from barrages on River Ravi (Madhopur) and Sutlej (Firozpur).
2. It was necessary for Pakistan to find permanent solution to this problem because:
a) Pakistan has low annual rainfall amount decreasing from north (750 mm. to less than
125mm) in south.
b) Amount timing and distribution are highly variable.
c) Increasing population more demand for food.
d) Agro based economy.
e) India could have asked to buy water from them.
3. The Indus Water Treaty is a water sharing treaty between India and Pakistan.
4. It was signed in 1960
 5. Under this treaty Pakistan received rights to the three western tributaries (Indus, Jhelum
and Chenab) and India to the eastern tributaries (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej). Two storage
dams Mangla and Tarbela, five barrages, one siphon and eight link canals were to be
built.
.

Dams

Mangla Dam
1. It is located on river Jhelum.
2. One of the longest earth-filled dams in the world (3100 meters at the crest).
3. It is multipurpose project:-
a) To control and conserve the flood waters of Jhelum for irrigation.
b) To generate hydro electric power.
Tarbela dam

1. It is built on Indus at Bara near the village of Tarbela.

2. It is about 30 km away from the town of Attock.
3. Before the Indus enters the Potwar Plateau, the water is stored in the reservoir of the
dam.
4. It is 143 m high and has a reservoir of area 243 km2.
5. It is the world’s largest earth-filled dam.
Small and Large Dams
Small dams:-
1. Store water for irrigation.
 2. Irrigate local areas only.
3. Supply water for industrial and domestic use.
4. Supply little or no electricity.
5. Silting problem is easier to solve.
6. Require comparatively low initial investment.
7. Maintenance cost is low.
8. Construction time is less and yields quick results.
9. Not much important for flood control.
10. Very few people are evacuated in order to construct the dam.
11. Small dams have little impact on rivers, watersheds and aquatic water systems.

7
Large dams

1. Store water for irrigation.

2. Irrigate a vast area
3. Supply water for industrial and domestic use.
4. Major suppliers of Hydroelectric Power.
5. Silting problem is difficult to solve.
6. Initial investment cost is very high.
7. Maintenance cost is very high.
8. Construction time is more and does not yield quick results.
9. More important for flood control.
10. Large-scale evacuation is required.
11. Large dams generally have a range of extensive impacts on rivers, watersheds and aquatic
ecosystems that are more negative and have lead to the loss of species and ecosystems.
Siltation in Reservoirs
1. Siltation is when the eroded material that the river picks up on its way accumulates in the
reservoir of dams and barrages.
Causes
1. Abundance of silt eroded from the Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Himalayas.
2. Deforestation.
3. Rivers form deep and narrow valleys in northern areas. Most of the eroded material piles
up in the reservoirs of dams.
Effects
1. Blockage of canals because silt accumulates.
2. Weakens the foundation of dams.
3. Choking of irrigational canals.
4. Reduced capacity of reservoir and less flow of water affects the generation of hydroelectric
power and the capacity of water available for irrigation.
5. Flow of flood water is hampered which may cause heavy damage to the dam.
Control
1. Large-scale forestation, especially on the foothills of Himalayas.
2. Cemented embankment of canals to make cleaning easier.
3. Installation of silt trap before the water flows down to the dams.
 4. Structural measure such as operating the reservoir at lower level during flood and allowing
free flow during low flow season for sluicing sediments from the reservoir.
5. Raising height of the dam to increase the capacity of the reservoir.
Barrages
1. Barrages are long structures used for irrigation and flood control.
2. They are not used for the generation of electricity.
3. Cost of construction of a barrage is less than that of a dam.
Water Logging and Salinity
1. Water-logging and salinity are two outcomes of canal irrigation in Pakistan.
2. The introduction of perennial canals caused the water table to rise.
3. The water on reaching the surface evaporates and the salts are deposited on the surface,
making the land unsuitable for farming.
4. The rise of the water-table to the surface level is called water-logging and the appearance
of salty patches is called salinity.
How to solve the problems of water-logging and salinity
Water-logging and salinity have made large pieces of land uncultivable. Water-logging and
salinity can be prevented by the following methods:-
1. Lining of canals to control seepage of water.
2. Canal closure on temporary basis so that water passes through only when needed for
irrigation purposes.
3. Installing tube wells to lower the water-table and
4. to provide extra water to flush out salts from the soil.
5. Planting eucalyptus trees.
6. Surface drain to divert surface water to nearby river or lake.

Surface Water Pollution

1. Dumping of industrial and agriculture waste and inadequate sewage disposal systems cause
surface water pollution.
2. Massive pollution in rivers occurs at various points.
3. Among the worst is the discharge of around 380 cusecs of untreated raw sewage from
Lahore into river Ravi
4. This means only 1:1 dilution is available in rainy season.
Management of Water Resources
1. A fair and just distribution of water between the provinces is essential.
2. A water accord was signed in 1991, which resulted in the creation of IRSA (Indus River
System Authority).
3. However, there were several disputes and the water accord was, more or less, finished.
4. The scarcity of water resources may affect Pakistan’s economy negatively because Pakistan
is an agricultural country.
 9

Turbine Deep Narrow Gorge

Barrage

Power Station Tunnel

10
This is the first part of a two-part series on Balochistan’s karez irrigation system.
Popular Pakistani landscape esthetics run in favour of rolling green hills and snow capped
mountains. Your scribe, however, has a predilection for rugged arid landscapes. Being a deserts fan,
particularly upland deserts, two of my favorite places in the world are the canyon country of Utah
and Arizona in the Western United States and then Balochistan.
I firmly believe that if God had a summer home in this world it would to be either in Utah or
Balochistan. The vast open spaces and majestic topography of Balochistan is a tonic for tired spirits.
And it was the lure of these spaces and beautiful people living therein that led me to Balochistan to
undertake a National Geographic funded research on the karez irrigation system there.
Karez is a human-made underground channel that passively taps the groundwater, conveys it by
gravity through that channel to villages at the valley floor, where it becomes their lifeblood. These
structures are found all over West Asia, Central Asia, North Africa, Spain and even as far as Peru,
Mexico and Japan.

-Photo by author
Karezes are not just irrigation structures, as I found out; they are in fact the bond that holds the
social, economic and cultural life of the communities. Balochistan is one place in South Asia
perhaps, where if you ask somebody how much land they have, they would generally have no idea.
Land is infinite in Balochistan. It is water that matters in that arid realm. People’s social station is not
determined by their landholdings in Balochistan but by the size of their share of water in a karez.
Karez water is perpetually flowing and that water is divided into 24 hour cycles called Shabanas.
A karez, depending upon its size may have anywhere from 18 to 32 shabanas divided up between
the karez shareholders, with individual rights ranging from a few minutes of water right to a week of
water.

-Photo by author
But, even if one has a few minutes of water right in a karez, a shareholder (shareeq, plural shuraqa)
gets to have the standing of a country gentleman in the community and gets to sit in a jirga and
weigh in on collective decisions.
Karez is an incredibly equitable system between upstream and downstream users. A water user who
has the first parcel of land along a karez water course, also has the last parcel of land on that channel.
The one with the second parcel of land also has the second to last parcel of land and so forth. This
ensures that everybody in the community has an equal stake in maintaining the entire water course,
unlike in Punjab where the upstream water users invariably make out like bandits at the expense of
the downstream water users.
For the past 30 years the government along with assorted donors have been promoting tubewells in
an effort to modernise the agricultural sector. Tubewell water is on demand and it is — well —
modern. With subsidised tubewells and electricity to run them, there is a serious issue with
groundwater mining in Balochistan, where groundwater is dropping at alarming rates in Quetta,
Mastung and Pishin districts for example. But beyond the imminent environmental catastrophe that
awaits Balochistan, are the social consequences of this state sponsored blind rush towards modern
tubewells. With the dropping of the water table, with every tubewell dozens of karezes go dry. As
one of my research respondents said:
"But a tubewell is owned by an individual from which two or three people are earning their living, a
karez however, is communally owned from which 500-1000 people may be earning their living. So
you figure out that when a tubewell gives an individual benefit, how many lose out."

-Photo by author
The ones who lose out, which is the majority of the poor, don’t just lose their livelihood but also
their sense of pride and dignity. While the routinekarez management and maintenance procedures
kept the rural communities bound in strong bonds of social capital, with the drying of the karez those
bonds are strained. Where one was a country gentleman, even if of modest means in a karez system,
he is reduced to being a day laborer, or worse a street hawker in the slums of Quetta and Karachi. No
prizes for guessing what the young people get in such circumstances.
Knowing what I know about karezes I am convinced that helping the people of Balochistan
save karezes from extinction, will be one of the keys to restoring peace and dignity to the rural poor
of Balochistan. With only groundwater to go on, its depletion, as is going on right now, will spell
doom for that province — socially and environmentally.
But there is hope and I will talk about that in my next column.
 The Necessity of Karez Water Systems in Balochistan
By Daanish Mustafa | Reader - Department of Geography - King's College London | Jan 17, 2014

Kunghar Karez - Balochistan, Pakistan

This essay is part of the Middle East-Asia Project (MAP) series on “Harvesting Water and Harnessing
Cooperation: Qanat Systems in the Middle East and Asia.” See Essays and Resources …
Land is infinite in Balochistan. It is the one place in South Asia where if you ask someone how much land
they have, they will generally have no idea. Instead, it is water that matters. In Balochistan, social station
is not determined by landholdings but by the size of one’s share of water in a karez. These manmade
underground channels passively tap groundwater and provide the lifeblood of villages at the valley floor.
The most arid of the provinces in largely semi-arid Pakistan, Balochistan has the highest poverty rate in
the country, and more than 70 percent of its population is spread across the vastness of its uplands and
plains. Most of the rural population can be characterized as pastoralist and agro-pastoralist, with a rising
cohort of sedentary agriculturists colonizing the valley floors in the province’s uplands and one major
canal colony in the eastern lowlands. Groundwater is vital to agro-pastoralist and sedentary agriculture,
and for more than a millennium the linchpin of groundwater tapping technology in Balochistan has been
the karez system.

The first well where the water is tapped for a karez is called the mother well, and there is a zone of
roughly 1,200 feet in diameter where it is forbidden to dig new wells or otherwise threaten the quality and
quantity of the groundwater. The vertical shafts along the underground channel are purely for
maintenance purposes, and water may only be used once it emerges from the daylight point.
The key advantage of the karez system is that it taps the water passively and therefore does not
contribute to groundwater depletion, though the downside is the ensuing dependence on seasonal water
flow fluctuations. These structures are found all over West Asia, Central Asia, North Africa, Spain, and
even as far as Peru, Mexico, and Japan. Many of the karezes in Balochistan are hundreds of years old,
and although they are generally not as architecturally ornate as those in neighboring Iran, they carry
equal, if not greater, import in the economic and cultural life of the region.
The Soviets understood the importance of karezes in the 1980s and were thorough about destroying
them in Kandahar and southern Afghanistan in an effort to break the insurgency. The historical
importance of karezes stretches back far before the 1980s, however. Karezes in Kandahar were used to
water the vineyards that produced wine that Babur—the first Mughal emperor of India—eagerly awaited
in the sixteenth century, on the plains of Bhera in northern Punjab, where Alexander the Great had also
made camp during his Indian campaign.

Karezes are not just

irrigation structures, but are also the bond that holds together the social, economic, and cultural life of
the communities in which they are located.  Karez water is perpetually flowing and is divided into 24-hour
cycles called shabanas. A karez, depending upon its size, may have anywhere from 18 to 32 shabanas
distributed between its shareholders, with individual claims ranging from the right to a few minutes to a
week of water. But even if one has the right to only a few minutes of water from a karez, a shareholder,
or shareeq, is entitled to the standing of a country gentleman in the community and may sit in a jirga and
weigh in on collective decisions. As such, the lack of a right to karez water renders one a second-class
citizen in the village communities of Balochistan.
As karezes require considerable social organization for their maintenance, strong social capital
undergirds the system. Universally recognized water rights have given rise to well-articulated water
markets, in which water is frequently exchanged either on a reciprocal basis or for cash to direct it
toward its most productive or socially desirable use. Karez communities also often hold 24 hours of
water in reserve to be auctioned at the beginning of every planting season to finance karez maintenance.
These water rights can return up to Rs. 3000 (roughly $28.44) per hour.
The administration of water rights and the mobilization of labor and resources for karezes’ periodic
maintenance is typically presided over by the institution of the mir-e-aab (water master), who levies
maintenance charges, resolves disputes, and maintains accounts. The office of the mir-e-aab is
generally separate from the village head, and the position is not necessarily hereditary. Furthermore, the
mir-e-aab presides over a water management committee and is not an absolute leader.
The karez system is equitable between upstream and downstream users. A water user who has the first
parcel of land along a karez water course also has rights to the last parcel of land on the same channel.
The user with the second parcel of land also has rights to the second to last parcel of land, and so forth.
Such an arrangement ensures that everyone in the community has an equal stake in maintaining the
entire water course, unlike in other irrigation systems in which the upstream water users invariably
benefit and need not contribute to the maintenance of the entire water channel.
For the past 30 years, the Pakistani government and assorted donors have been promoting electric and
diesel tubewells in an effort to modernize the agricultural sector. Tubewell water is attractive because it
is available on demand and is a modern invention. However, tubewells and electricity to run them
present a major drain on the financial resources of their owners. Tubewells are also the main cause of
depletion of groundwater; indeed, levels are dropping at alarming rates in Balochistan, particularly in the
Quetta, Mastung, and Pishin districts. Beyond the imminent environmental catastrophe that awaits
Balochistan are the social consequences of this state-sponsored rush toward modern tubewells. With the
dropping of the water table, and with the introduction of every tubewell, dozens of karezes go dry. As
one of my research respondents noted: “A tubewell is owned by an individual, [and] two or three people
are earning their living [from it], but a karez is communally owned, [and] 500-1000 people may be
earning their living [from it].” 
The main beneficiaries of the replacement of karezes with electric tubewells in Balochistan have been
the large farmers. The biggest losers have been the small farmers, pastoralists, and agro-pastoralists
who have been deprived of their customary rights to water from karezes. Although the agricultural
productivity in Balochistan has increased with the surge in water availability from tubewells, that surge is
likely to be temporary because the water is being pumped unsustainably.
The poor lose not only their livelihoods but also their sense of pride and dignity. While routine karez
management and maintenance procedures kept the rural communities together through strong
communal involvement, the drying of karezes strains those bonds. Country gentlemen, even those of
modest means under a karez system, have been reduced to working as day laborers or street hawkers
in the slums of Quetta and Karachi. The youngest segments of the population fare even worse under
such circumstances.
Saving these karezes from extinction will be one of the keys to restoring peace and dignity to the rural
poor of Balochistan. The depletion of groundwater as it is currently happening will spell doom for that
province, both socially and environmentally. The number of functioning karezes in the Quetta valley has
been reduced from scores to barely one or two. In the neighboring Mastung valley in the 1970s, there
were 365 karezes; now there remain barely a dozen.
In Balochistan there has been a general feeling of doom about the future of karezes. As one of my
interview respondents observed:
“Karezes were a great source of social and communal life for us village folks.  People would sit on
their sides and discuss their issues and find solutions to their problems.  But modern times, new
technologies, and tubewells have dried out the karezes and their resurrection is no longer
possible, nor is there any future for the existing ones.”
Or as another respondent remarked:
“Times have changed. New technology is coming in, with new machines, and new [modern] people
who like [the] latest machines.  The traditional irrigation is being progressively forgotten.”
In Syria, too, there was once a thriving karez system, locally referred to as qanats. Qanats were replaced
with tubewells from the 1970s through the 1990s, which resulted in a spectacular growth of agricultural
productivity. But, by the mid-2000s, the groundwater had been depleted. The resultant rural
dispossession and economic devastation had socially disastrous results for Syrian society. While one
cannot say that the present-day civil war is a direct consequence of qanat decline, one cannot say that
the decline was entirely irrelevant, either.
In some countries, however, attempts are being made at restoring karezes. In the Nakhchivan region of
Azerbaijan, some karezes are coming back into use after more than 70 years of dormancy. The
tubewells had done to this region what they did to Syria and are now doing to Balochistan.
Dare one even speculate what might happen in Balochistan when groundwater disappears at present
extraction rates and the rural economy collapses? The news is not good at the time of this writing.
Hopefully attention to the karez system and the lives that it sustains can keep the situation from
deteriorating.