Water Crisis in Pakistan
WATER CRISIS IN PAKISTAN
GENERAL
1. Pakistan has been blessed with abandoned water resources, with water flowing down from Himalayas and Karakorum, the world’s largest glaciers, a unique bounty of nature. As a result of this natural resource today we have the world’s largest irrigation system that irrigates over 16 million hectors of land, out of 34 million hectors of cultivable land available.
2. Basically there are two major sources of water i.e surface and ground water. In surface water we have Indus Basin (it include Indus plains , Kabul , Astor , Jehlum , Chenab and Sutlej), Kharan Desert (it include Pishin lora , Baddo Rakshan Mashkhel ) and Makran coastal basin (it include Malir , Hub , Porali , Kud , Hingol , Dasht and Kech). The ground water is basically the Indus plains that constitute 34 million hectors of cultivable land. Also it is found in some rain-fed lands and inter-mountain valleys.
3. This all water is being stored in the natural reservoirs according to their capacities for its effective utilization. These reservoirs mainly include Tarbela dam, Mangla Chashma barrage reservoirs. Also along with these large dam reservoirs there are many small other reservoirs like Warsak, Khanpur, Tanda , Rawal etc.
UTILIZATION OF WATER In Pakistan we use water available to us for different purposes .The basic utilization is for irrigation and then for power production, drinking water and also in some industries.
1. IRRIGATION. Most of the water is used in the irrigation system. It is provided through the canal diversions mainly. The water is also lost in the form of rainwater, ground water etc.
a. POWER GENERATION. Water released by the hydro power plants returns to the river system. Now a day due to the recent increase in the thermal generation the water is mostly utilized for the irrigation and not for hydro power.
b. DRINKING. Most of the water to the urban or rural areas is supplied from ground water through tube wells and hand pumps
GENERAL
1. Pakistan has been blessed with abandoned water resources, with water flowing down from Himalayas and Karakorum, the world’s largest glaciers, a unique bounty of nature. As a result of this natural resource today we have the world’s largest irrigation system that irrigates over 16 million hectors of land, out of 34 million hectors of cultivable land available.
2. Basically there are two major sources of water i.e surface and ground water. In surface water we have Indus Basin (it include Indus plains , Kabul , Astor , Jehlum , Chenab and Sutlej), Kharan Desert (it include Pishin lora , Baddo Rakshan Mashkhel ) and Makran coastal basin (it include Malir , Hub , Porali , Kud , Hingol , Dasht and Kech). The ground water is basically the Indus plains that constitute 34 million hectors of cultivable land. Also it is found in some rain-fed lands and inter-mountain valleys.
3. This all water is being stored in the natural reservoirs according to their capacities for its effective utilization. These reservoirs mainly include Tarbela dam, Mangla Chashma barrage reservoirs. Also along with these large dam reservoirs there are many small other reservoirs like Warsak, Khanpur, Tanda , Rawal etc.
UTILIZATION OF WATER In Pakistan we use water available to us for different purposes .The basic utilization is for irrigation and then for power production, drinking water and also in some industries.
1. IRRIGATION. Most of the water is used in the irrigation system. It is provided through the canal diversions mainly. The water is also lost in the form of rainwater, ground water etc.
a. POWER GENERATION. Water released by the hydro power plants returns to the river system. Now a day due to the recent increase in the thermal generation the water is mostly utilized for the irrigation and not for hydro power.
b. DRINKING. Most of the water to the urban or rural areas is supplied from ground water through tube wells and hand pumps