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PAKISTAN’S WATER RESOURCES: CHALLENGES FACED

BY: WASIM UL HAQ MBA II (DIRECT)

ABSTRACT

This article takes into account the issues related to water and water resources in our region
(Pakistan and India). The problems which have grown with time regarding the water distribution
between Pakistan and India make up the major portion of the article. It discusses water as a
basic human right. The major challenges in the past, present and future form a major part of this
article. Effects of climate changes and environment are also discussed in this article.

The discussion encompasses the role of government and other agencies and non governmental
bodies in promoting a mutual understanding among provinces on water issues. This article
relates to the work done on the federal and provincial level towards the solution of water
problems in the country. The role of international agencies is also prevalent in the article.

It has been customary for India and Pakistan to fight on the water resources. Most of the rivers
flow into Pakistan after having passed the Indian lands. This article discusses the various treaties
which were signed by Pakistan and India in the past. How Pakistan can make best use of its
scarce water resources is important part of the article.

It discusses the problems associated with mega projects like dams and barrages build on the
rivers within Pakistan and in the Indian region.

The importance of water in the economic development of Pakistan as it’s an agricultural economy
is discussed in deep length. Water shortages are discussed as a reason for hindrance in the
development of other sectors of the economy.

Major issue discussed in the article is that how the water resources should be managed so that it
can be beneficial for the economic strength of the nation.
Lastly, the article recommends institutional development for the purpose of properly investigating
issues related to water and bringing on sustainable solutions.

_______________________________________________________________
The author is the student of MBA (direct) 2007-09, IBA (main campus) Karachi.

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"Water is everybody's business. We are almost at a point of no return, and something has
to be done quickly to conserve and best use the resources we have"
- Simi Kamal

PROBLEM DEFINITION control over markets has become more

important than access over territory, policy

Since the beginning of time, mankind has makers are starting to look at water as a

considered fresh drinking water as a natural "strategic item"1, like oil, steel or rubber.

and eternal phenomenon. People have Increasing shortages of water in some

tended to settle in places where drinking industrialized countries, as well as power

water was readily available and it was struggles over access to water by the

therefore only recently that people started to growing populations in the developing

realize that water is not an inexhaustible countries, have led to an increased

resource. So much so, that at the end of the awareness about the need for a more

20th century, more and more researchers economical and sustainable use of water

are predicting that a shortage of fresh water resources. As with food, the problem with

is going to be the most serious resource water is not one of global shortage, but one

problem in the next hundred years. Water of uneven distribution. At the same time, it is

has thus become a Socio-political problem, one of the few renewable resources. The

rather than a technical problem. forces of nature guarantee a constant

Access to drinking and irrigation water has evaporation and subsequent rain on the

always been a Socio-political issue. Power oceans, glaciers and land. Thus, within

and politics ultimately are about access to certain limits, a constant supply of fresh

resources, whether they are natural, human water is guaranteed.

or imaginary: who gets what, where and The modern history of water development

how. Any society needs to find ways of and management in Pakistan is one in which

regulating ownership, modes of production the glass can be seen as more than half full.

and human relationships. The main But, as this article will show, the glass can

differences between societies can be also be viewed as much more than half

defined in terms relating to these main empty too. Once again, the survival of a

political issues: gender relations, decision- modern and growing Pakistan is threatened

making power, law enforcement and access by water.

to production factors such as labor, land and

water. More and more, the awareness that
water is not the least important in this series
is growing. History is full of examples of
wars fought about land and water (more
often about sea water than drinking water,
however). As in modern times access and

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1
. Farazul haq; Water issues; NIMS (2005) for the health and well being of himself and
of his family, including food, clothing,
METHODOLOGY housing and medical care and other social
services…”. Although water was not
The general methodology adopted for this
included explicitly in this act however, the
article was collection of information from
standards of an adequate living cannot be
internet, newspapers, reports, and other
satisfied without sufficient and quality supply
related articles. Basic emphasis was given
of water. Under the light of Article 8(1) of
to internet search using search engines like
Declaration of rights to Development, the
Google and Wikipedia. Also adequate
General Assembly in its Resolution stated
information was extracted from other articles
that “the right to food and clean water are
discussing water related issues in Pakistan.
fundamental human rights and their
Figures and tables are mostly taken from
promotion constitutes a moral imperative for
government reports and reports of other
both National Governments and for the
international agencies like the World Bank
international community.” For a proper
and IUCN.
implementation of water rights, the
consolidation and clear definition of scope is
WATER AS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT
required.2

The basic human right to access clean water

According to a personal from UNDP, “to
is becoming one of the most considerable
emphasize the human right of access to
issues as given that “the availability of clean,
drinking water does more than emphasize
fresh water is one of the most important
its importance. It grounds priority on bedrock
issues facing humanity today and will be
of social and economic rights; it emphasizes
increasingly critical for the future, as growing
the obligations of state parties to provide
demands outstrips supplies and pollution
support internationally as well as nationally”
continues to contaminate rivers, lakes and
(Jolly, 1998). Thus focusing on water as
streams.”1
human right will:
Starting from 1948 where the General
Assembly announced the provision of
o Help in focusing on resolving
universal declaration of human rights, the
conflicts over the use of shared
right to a safe and healthy life has been
watercourses.
granted to the human beings from both
o Help set priorities for water policy so
developed and underdeveloped areas as the
that no person is deprived of
constitution declared in Article 25: “everyone
enough, good quality water.
has the right to a standard living adequate

1
UNFPA, Population issues (2000) “Population
and Sustainable Development”, at
2
www.unfpa.org/module/6billion/populationissue Peter H. Gleick, “The Human Right to Water”
s/development.htm Water Policy 1(5) (1999) at 487-503.

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o Bring in radical changes in policies
that will help in eradicating poverty Pakistani hydraulic economy has faced and
and enhance sustainable growth. overcome three massive challenges in the
last half century since the partition.
PAST CHALLENGES
Pakistan is one of the world’s most parched
• The first challenge
countries, with an average rainfall of under
This challenge aroused because the lines of
240 mm a year. Basically the country has an
partition of the Indo-Pak sub-continent
agricultural-based economy, so the
severed the irrigated heartland of Punjab
population and the economy are heavily
from the life-giving waters of the Ravi, Beas
dependent on the an annual influx into the
and Sutlej rivers. In an unparalleled victory
Indus river system (including the Indus,
of water diplomacy, Pakistani engineers,
Jhelum, Chenab Ravi, Beas and Sutlej
together with their Indian counterparts and
rivers) of about 180 billion cubic meters of
the World Bank, negotiated the Indus
water, that emanates from the neighboring
Waters Treaty, giving Pakistan rights to the
countries and is mostly derived from snow-
waters of the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab
melt in the Himalayas.
rivers, which comprise
Pakistan’s Irrigation System is the largest
75% of the flow of the
contiguous gravity Irrigation network in the
whole Indus system.
world. The reservoir capacity is highly
inadequate -only 12 MAF out of the 50 MAF
flood flows is conserved in Tarbela and
Mangla Dams. The irrigation system is over
100 years old with ageing structures and
• The
inadequacies to meet the growing water
Second challenge
needs. It requires urgent improvements,
modernization and development for The second challenge was that there was

enhancing water resources. The system was now a mismatch between the location of

designed for 67% irrigation intensity which Pakistan’s water (in the western rivers) and

has become outmoded in the context of the major irrigated area in the east.4 Again

current agricultural development i-e 122 %.1 Pakistan’s water engineers were up to the
task, and they build out the building the

Industrialization and urbanization is creating world’s largest earth-fill dam, the Tarbela on

harmful and toxic effluents which are flowing the Indus, and link canals, which ran for

into rivers and canals and polluting the food hundreds of miles and carried flows ten

chain. The Punjab fresh water aquifer has 1

Pakistan development forum: Punjab irrigation
dropped from 10 to 30 feet due to heavy
and power department
pumping during the past 3 drought years.3 Pakistan development forum: Punjab irrigation
and power department
4
3 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/

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times the flow of the Thames River as show
in the figure.

The Indus Waters Treaty brought a

fundamental and unprecedented change in
Pakistan’s options and approach towards its
water development and management. With
• The Third challenge
the loss of the three eastern rivers, Pakistan
had no choice but to rely on storage for The third challenge was

meeting its existing demands (Mangla) and neither political nor

for future extension of the irrigated area hydraulic but ecological. It

(Tarbela). In short, the development and was this last reality which

sustainability of water resources gave rise to the third

development in Pakistan became, and major water challenge

continues to be, dependent on storage and which Pakistan had to

dams. The development of these dams had face at and after

a social and economic impact on the Independence. Hundreds of billions of cubic

country. First, it secured the future of a meters of water were now stored in the

young and vulnerable country. Second, it, naturally-deep aquifers of Punjab alone. The

especially Tarbela, facilitated the expansion groundwater table rose dramatically and in

of irrigated area and the production of clean many areas water tables now reached the

and renewable hydropower. In a major study level of the land. And these waters were rich

done for the World Commission on Dams, in salts which had been absorbed from the

Pervaiz Amir and colleagues did an ex-post soil. After the water evaporated, the land

assessment of the impact of Tarbela. was covered with a crispy layer of life

Tarbela has a massive impact on the suppressing salt. In the early 1960s it

economy of Pakistan. It is estimated that appeared that Pakistan was doomed,

5
about 40% of the population presently ironically, to a watery, salty grave.

benefits from water that is regulated by

Tarbela. Tarbela (along with the derivative On the basis of excellent scientific, technical

Ghazi Barotha project below it) represents and economic analysis by Pakistani and

over 30% of Pakistan’s installed generation foreign experts, the government played a

capacity. The actual direct power and major role in doing the right analysis and

irrigation benefits were about 25% higher they emphasized the integration of

than those predicted at appraisal (as shown groundwater use and vertical drainage. The

in figure). emergence of tube well technology put

power in the hands of farmers. A happy
union between farmers’ self-interest and

5
Water economy: world bank report

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through this they were able to justify the Keeping in mind the importance and the
threat of water logging and salinity. significance of the water resources to boost
our economy and the survival, well-being
At the same time in order to cater the other and development of our people, this study
problems and these problems, the aims to find out the broad problem areas
government developed different institution. and to penetrate the root causes of the
The major question at the establishment of water resource problems. Some of the
these institutions was that how will these issues and challenges to which the country
institution would perform. But now we can is exposed to are:
see their performance and can analyze them
very well. In most of the cases they perform o Growing Water Stress
very well. 59 years back it was hard to o An imminent “Water Gap”
imagine that Pakistan would be self o A high-risk water environment
sufficient and would be able to control the o Climatic changes
problem of salinity and water logging. Ideas
o Degradation/Depletion of the
like “river basin planning” and “integrated
resource base
water resources management” have sound
o Maintenance Gap (Maintaining
conceptual roots, and appeal to technicians,
existing resources)
many of whom perceive implementation of
o Inter- provincial conflicts and
these ideas as the path towards better water
building new Dams
management
As Karl Marx (had he addressed the
• Growing Water Stress
subject!) might have said it as follows: water
reform is dialectic, not mechanical process,
this was also the case in Pakistan as well. Pakistan is considered as one of those
countries, where the water stress is crossing
its limits and it is a general observation that
CURRENT ISSUES AND
it would be harmful for the country, if no
CHALLENGES
steps would be
taken. The
This study focuses on different issues and
increasing water
challenges that are being faced and
stress is contributed
anticipated to be faced by Pakistan’s
by two main
growing economy. By far economists believe
reasons.
that in the future the pace of the economic
development of the country will be seriously
hampered by the water resources’
o Increasing
constraints. demand of water for consumption as
a basic human necessity due to
increasing population.

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o Unproductive usage of water for
agriculture where the yield is not
much satisfactory as compared to
water outflow to the crops.
Figure: World Bank analysis of ICOLD Data
• An Imminent “Water Gap”
The water stress is increasing and there is
no additional water to be injected into the
system. Rather than injecting water into the
system, more and more water is escaping
from the system into the sea. The figure is
showing the canal water escapages to the
sea.
Source: World Bank 2005
• A High-Risk Water
Environment
Managerial Communication And Negotiation
Pakistan’s dependence on a single river
system means it has little of the strength that
most countries enjoy by virtue of having a
multiplicity of river basins and diversity of
water resources. While India (for example)
might be able to muddle through because it
has many rivers and if something goes
wrong in one place, the effect is cushioned
by opportunities in other places; this is a
luxury which Pakistan does not have. If the
water/sediment/salt system of the Indus
Basin goes badly wrong, that’s it. There is
no latitude for error. So this shows that there
is a requirement for new ways , such as
new dams, through which more water can
be delivered to the large population, this
would not only result in avoiding water
shortage but it would also act a survivor if
something goes wrong.
• Climatic Changes
Changes to the earth's climate have a direct
effect on the global hydrological cycle and
IBA
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hence on water. Changes in climate are Simultaneously, there is large-scale
thought to be responsible for increasing the uncontrolled pollution of surface and
extremes of flood and drought, both of groundwater from the increasing quantities
which, together with other circumstances of pesticides and fertilizers used in
such as increasing populations and agriculture and by rapidly growing cities and
environmental degradation, tend to effects industries.
the poor the greatest.
• Maintenance Gap (Maintaining
One of the most notable causes of climate existing infrastructure)
change is global warming due at least
partially to the emission of 'greenhouse
Pakistan has a very large stock of major
gasses.
irrigation and bulk water infrastructure,
which is estimated to have a replacement
• Degradation/Depletion of cost of about US$60 billion.6 The
the Resource Base infrastructure in Pakistan is very old and it

There is abundant evidence of wide-scale has never been replaced. Above all the

degradation of the natural resource base on services provided by these infrastructures

which the people of Pakistan depend. are very critical for the country’s safety.

‘Salinity’ remains a major problem, with These services are only helpful if the

some aspects partially controlled but others structures are maintained properly and if

including the fate of the approximately 15 they are replaced after their respected

million tons of salt which are accumulating in useful life. But unfortunately neither the

the Indus Basin every year, and the Federal Government nor any of the

entrance of saline water into over-pumped provinces of Pakistan have a modern Asset

freshwater aquifers. Management Plan. Also, there are no

The figure below shows the amount or reliable estimates of the annualized costs or

percentage of saline in water in different budgets of replacing and maintaining these

provinces of Pakistan. This shows that water infrastructures. From international

in Sindh is more saline than other provinces experience, a typical figure – assuming

and that’s the reason why the province is regular maintenance and replacement of

most water stressed and its resources are infrastructure is about 3% of the value of the

depleting much quicker than other capital stock of water infrastructure with

provinces. roughly a half of this being for replacement

and half for maintenance7.
6
Estimates prepared by Punjab IPD September 2005.

7
Australian experience shows that the average
“renewals annuity”, which includes the cost of both
replacement and operations and maintenance, “is about
3% to 4% for older, and 2% to 3% for newer assets”,
Personal communication, Golbourn Murray Water and
the Murray Darling Basin Commission, 2005.

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For the years Kalabagh dam had been
generating political dissent, doubts and
• Inter- provincial conflicts alienation between Sindh and NWFP. While
and building new Dams this proposed project continued to generate
much heat, the political governments of the
The provincial issues regarding sharing of past kept on insisting the national
resources have been the core of several consensus be involved about it. But that did
problems in Pakistan since its inception. not satisfy the provinces, which were against
When it comes to water resources Pakistan Kalabagh dam. Their fear originates from
does not have India as a sole problem but unequal apportionment of water, dislocation
within Pakistan there is a never ending of the people and submerging of fertile
debate regarding proper distribution of water lands, with the passage of time it was
allocation between Sindh and Punjab. becoming increasingly clear that the creating
Punjab has always been, in terms of of additional water storage capacity had
population as well as power, the dominating become inevitable. The idea of building
province in Pakistan. The unfair allocation of water reservoir at Kalabagh has kept on
resources has always benefited Punjab disturbing the minds of the people of Sindh,
whether it is in terms of voting rights, seats NWFP and even in Balochistan.
in assembly, educational facilities or water.
Sindh agricultural lands are considered ‘the
bread basket’ of the country and thus require
sufficient supply of water for irrigation. After
dissolving the Indus River System Authority
in early 90s, the Water and Power
Development Authority (WAPDA) has been
allowing the province of Punjab to take more
water than its due share, whereas Sindh is
not getting its due share of water. This
shortage of supply of water affects Sindh's
cotton, rice and sugarcane crops and the
crops have to face severe production losses,
in some cases up to 70 percent8. There has
always been a controversy that water
shortages during the sowing season are
created by the Water and Power
Development Authority itself.

8 CONCLUSION
http://enn.newsbyte.com, ‘Pakistan Provinces Feud
Over Water’

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large dams but what will happen is that

By reviewing the water sector, we can opposition will react and they will start a civil

conclude that there are few main challenges movement against it. So the first and

which have to be catered. If we want to foremost thing is the support of opposition

finish water crisis we should handle these and for this we must inject educated people

issues carefully otherwise these will not only in our legislative body, who can understand

impact the life of Pakistani people but will the importance of water in economy. At the

also act as a hindrance in the development same time government should take some

of the economy. initiatives. There are two fundamental areas

Although industries are developing in our in which government regulatory capacity

country but they also require electricity for must be developed – in regulating the

their production and process and when there delivery of services and in regulating the use

will be no water available then how will they of water resources. At the same time

run their factories and will do manufacturing. government is always able to make

At the same time we also have to strategies and plans but they are never able

understand that water does not only fulfill to manage strategies and plans because

our basic requirement but it also reduces there is lack of institutions which implement

cost as well. As electricity can be produced these strategies. It means that there is a

through the use of other natural resources great need for such institutions in Pakistan.

such as oil and gas but water is the

cheapest of all, therefore we need to So finally we are able to say that water is not

understand its importance and as the prices only a need but it is strategic item which

of oil are becoming very high , it would be plays an important role in the development

viable option to use water to produce of any country. We have also seen that

electricity. We can see now-a-days the developed countries are successful because

impact of shortage of water such as load they have been able to understand the

shedding and disputes our water. importance of water very early; therefore
they took initiatives to improve and save it.

We also can conclude that, even if we cater Therefore, we also need to understand

to the various problems and challenges importance of water and for this we have to

without solving the inter-provincial disdain, spread awareness among all people

this might not be worthwhile and all the especially among the opposition who don’t

efforts would go in vein. Even we construct understand its importance and they just
oppose for the sake of opposition.

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REFERENCES

1. Faraz; Water issues in Pakistan; NIMS; 2005

2. UNFPA, Population issues (2000) “Population and Sustainable

Development”, at
www.unfpa.org/module/6billion/populationissues

3. Peter H. Gleick, “The Human Right to Water” Water Policy

1(5) (1999) at 487-503

4. Pakistan development forum: Punjab irrigation and power

department

5. Water economy: world bank report 2005

6. Estimates prepared by Punjab IPD September 2005.

7. Personal communication, Golbourn Murray Water and the

Murray Darling Basin Commission, 2005.

WEBSITES:

8. http://enn.newsbyte.com, ‘Pakistan Provinces Feud Over

Water’
9. www.dawn.com
10. www.thenews.com
11. www.dailytimes.com
12. http://www.waterinfo.net.pk/articles.htm

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