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Background The region of Balochistan lies in the arid zone and receives very scanty rainfall. Its distribution varies considerably in time and space. With low and erratic precipitation and extremely high evaporation rates, surface storage offers limited potential. Therefore, the main source of sustained water supplies is from underground which has been an important source of irrigation water in Balochistan. Prior to eighties when there was no electricity in the rural areas, groundwater was obtained from dugwells, springs and through karezes. However, later on, electrification program, improved communication network and favourable prices of agriculture and horticulture produce resulted in the replacement of karez system with tubewell technology for the development of groundwater resources. By 1960, the number of tubewell drilled by government agencies were only 75, whereas by year 1999 according to Agricultural Statistics of Balochistan, the number of tubewell drilled by government/private agencies have gone to 22,455. Between 1971 to 1995, the area under tubewell irrigation increased from 45,000 hectares to 214,891 hectares with the increase in crop intensity to over 100% and there has been a major shift from traditional low value crops to high value cash crops. This development has been at the cost of over exploitation of groundwater resources. In some valleys like Quetta, Pishin, Mastung, Mangochar, Loralai and Qilla Saifullah, the water table has gone down at a an alarming rate causing a state of groundwater mining.
Irrigation Practices
The presently known water resources are meagre in respect of cultiviable land of the Province. According to the published records, presently only about 49% of the irrigable land is under irrigation of which 29% of the area comes under canal irrigation, 6% by springs and karezes and 14% of the area by tubewells and wells. Karezes, which although has been in practice for centuries have fallen prey to electrification and groundwater development by pumps. It has been surveyed that the land and climate in the Province is extremely suitable for high valued deciduous fruits such as apples, almonds, pomegranates and apricots. Flood irrigation is commonly practiced. Agriculture is practiced by water harvesting, flood irrigation and by the perennial irrigation methods. Irrigation by canal system is practiced in Nasirabad, Tamboo, Sibi and Lasbela districts.
GROUNDWATER RESOURCES
Precipitation is the main source of runoff in the catchment areas of the river system in the basins. A large number of rivers and streams stemming from mountain ranges and highlands coast in Balochistan are ephemeral. No major storage dam exist in the Province to store flash flood which are estimated to be of order of 10 million acre feet. Groundwater is the main dependable source of water for irrigation, agriculture, domestic and industrial use. It occurs both in consolidated (hard) and unconsolidated (alluvium) rocks. In hard rocks, good aquifers exist in zones rife with joints, fractures, fissures, liniments and cavern. Unconsolidated deposits with good aquifers are in coarse material, that is, gravel and sand.
GROUNDWATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
Historically, groundwater has been an important source of irrigation water in Balochistan. It is extracted from dug wells, tubewells and on a limited scale through karez system. The electrification program introduced the advent of tubewells for the development of groundwater resources and there has been a rapid increase in the drilling activities over the past 20 years with some major benefits but also some disadvantages. Till 1989,
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approximately 22% of the perennial land in the Province derived its irrigated water from underground water resources such as karezes, springs, open wells and tubewells but by the year 1998, the irrigated land under this source has gone up to 34.5% with water from tubewells alone contributing 22.8%. Domestic water requirements are largely met by groundwater exploitation. Table-1 summarizes the number of tube wells drilled by different government agencies from 1950 to 2000. Table 1: YEARWISE DRILLING OF TUBEWELLS BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Period 1950-60 1961-65 1966-70 1971-75 1976-80 1981-85 1986-90 1991-95 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-till date Total
Source:
BDA
64 45 68 32 24 42 275
Total 75 80 29 224 500 483 822 720 218 82 126 82 147 182 225 705 4700
Tube well Database, September 2004, WRPD&M Directorate, I&P, Government of Balochistan.
LEGEND I&P Deptt. = Balochistan. BDA = PHE Deptt. Irrigation and Power Department, Government of
Balochistan Development Authority. = Public Health Engineering Department, Government of Balochistan. WAPDA = Water and Power Development Authority, Government of Pakistan.
IMPACT OF GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT 3
Availability of dependable and manageable source of water by tubewell technology has lead to a phenomenal increase in the area under orchards causing a major shift from traditional low value crops to high value cash crops with a positive impact on the economy of the Province. The tubewell development has increased the cropping intensity to over 100%. According to the data given in Table-14, the number of tube-wells drilled by government agencies from 1950 to 2000 is 3,445. The Agricultural Statistics of Balochistan for 1998-99 gives the total number of tube-wells drilled by government and private agencies as 22,453. To ascertain it inventory of watering points by Water Resources Planning Development & Monitoring Directorate is under way. However, the indiscriminate and unplanned development of groundwater resources by tube well technology has resulted in over exploitation of these resources in quite a few valleys causing continuous drop in water level of the aquifer. The unsustainable groundwater development has affected the karez flow and collapsing of tunnels making a lot of these redundant. According to a report published by Planning and Investigation Directorate, WAPDA in June 1992, out of 1,000 karezes in Balochistan, 464 are in good running condition, 266 are with declining flow and 270 have gone dry. The maximum number of karezes with decline inflow and becoming dry are in Quetta valley. There is no updated information available on the latest situation of karezes.
Groundwater Monitoring
Monitoring the fluctuation of groundwater levels has been started in Balochistan during 1988 in Quetta, Mastung, Mangochar and Pishin, sub basins of Pishin Lora Basin. The network was started with a total number of 222 points consisting of 15 automatic water level recorders, 12 piezometers and 195 open surface wells. The network was handed over to Bureau of Water Resources, Irrigation and Power Department, Government of Balochistan, in June, 1994. By 2001, the monitoring points
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have reduced to 83 because of drying up of open surface wells or conversion of these dug wells into deep wells fitted with centrifugal pumps. The latest status of monitoring network is given in TABLE-2.
Table 2: MONITORING NETWORK MAINTAINED BY BUREAU OF WATER RESOURCES (ORIGINAL AND AS ON 2001)
Sub-Basin Quetta North Quetta South Pishin Mastung Mangochar Total Points Total Points 1996 38 11 49 33 04 135 Dried 14 02 22 12 02 52 No. of AWLR* 10 0 0 02 01 13 Piezometer well 01 02 01 01 0 05 Open Wells 13 07 26 18 01 65 Existing Network 2001 24 09 27 21 02 83
Source: Bureau of Water Resources, Government of Balochistan, 2001 * Automatic Water Level Recorders
The negative impact of the unplanned development of tubewells has resulted in the over exploitation of groundwater resources with continuous drop of the aquifer. The monitoring network has shown drop in groundwater levels in Quetta, Pishin, Mastung and Mangochar valleys indicating condition of groundwater mining.
TABLE-3 gives the monitoring results.
Source: Groundwater Level Fluctuation Report-Bureau of Water Resources, Government of Balochistan. 1996-2003
Precipitation is the main source of groundwater recharge in Balochistan. Groundwater in Balochistan occurs both in consolidated and unconsolidated aquifers practically in all the basins. Generally, it flows from the catchment boundaries to the axis of the valleys and then follows the general trend of surface drainage. Groundwater in Balochistan, generally, is found trapped in the alluvial fans and piedmont plains. UNDP/WAPDA evaluated the available groundwater potential of basins during 1976-80. TABLE-4 gives the results of this study.
Table 4: GROUNDWATER POTENTIAL IN BALOCHISTAN S.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Hydrogeological Basin Zhob River Basin Nari River Basin Kachhi Plain Pishin Lora Basin Mula River Basin Gaj River Basin Porali River Basin Hingol River Basin Hamun-e-Lora Basin Dashat River Basin Rakhshan River Basin Hamun-e-Mashkhel Basin Other Areas Total Groundwater Potential (Cusec) 125 120 95 145 26 38 155 168 28 51 27 68 140 1,186
In order to re-assess the available groundwater potential of Pishin, Nari, Zhob, Porali, Hamun-e-Lora and Kachhi Plain basins, a study was sponsored by Asian Development Bank and undertaken by Halcrow in 1996. The study revealed that the availability of groundwater in Pishin Lora, Nari and Zhob basins is constrained and mining of groundwater resources is taking place from aquifer storage in Quetta, Mastung, Mangochar, Pishin, Loralai and Qila Saifullah sub basins. TABLE-5 shows the water balance in these sub basins.
Table 5: GROUNDWATER BALANCE IN SELECTED BASINS OF BALOCHISTAN Basin Sub Basin Recharge (cusec) 6 Extractions (cusec) Overdrawn out of storage (cusec)
It the need of the hour to re-address the groundwater potential of Balochistan and flash floods, which are assumed as 12 million acre feet of water per annum in Balochistan is wasted without being put into any beneficial use because of lack of storage dams and flood dispersal structures. Hardly 2.7 MAF of water is utilized by traditional Ganda Jat system and flood diversion/dispersal structures and the rest goes wasted. By harnessing the same water through constructing delay action dams / storage dams in different parts of Balochistan, groundwater resources can be replenished and the serious situation can be averted along with direct irrigation by flood water.
Total Heads of Animals 8,721,472 7,219,087 2,107,057 1,074,036 1,377,916 4,086,965 26,042,336
Affected Population Numbers 1,048,311 4,000,000 166,917 577,423 751,217 1,373,098 7,916,966 Percentage 12% 55% 8% 54% 54% 34% 30%
MORTALITY
Percentage
Percentage
1,339,813.00 Wheat, Masoon, Mong, Maash, Moth etc. 281,275.00 Wheat, Pulses, Jawar, Oil Seads etc. 23,197.50 132,758.00 161,858.00 Wheat, Jawar, Bajra, Fruits etc. 1,973,169.00 Date, Wheat, Rice, Barley, Vegetables, Fodder etc.
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Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
Mean Evaporation (mm) 79 98 166 231 310 319 315 279 230 175 111 75 2388
Aver. Wind Velocity (Knots) 4.9 5.8 6.2 5.5 5.9 5.9 6.5 5.7 4.6 4.0 3.5 3.6
Precipitation
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Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
Mean Evaporation (mm) 81 104 170 223 289 301 271 247 216 170 118 82 2272
Aver. Wind Velocity (Knots) 3.6 3.5 4.4 3.8 4.5 3.9 3.3 3.0 3.0 3.4 3.4 3.3
Precipitation
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Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
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Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
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Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
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OF DROUGHT ON KAREZES
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BDA
64 45 68 32 24 42 275
Total 75 80 29 224 500 483 822 720 218 82 126 82 147 182 225 705 4700
Tube well Database, September 2004, WRPD&M Directorate, I&P, Government of Balochistan.
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