depleting water resources of balochistan 30.09

8/3/2019 Depleting Water Resources of Balochistan 30.09

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DEPLETING SITUATION UNDERGROUND WATER RESOURCES IN

BALOCHISTAN

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/privateagencies 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,

Loralaiand Qilla Saifullah, the water table has gone down at a an alarming

rate causing a state of groundwater mining.

Irrigation Practices

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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 maindependable 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 GOVERNMENTAGENCIES

PeriodI&P

Deptt. BDAPHE

Deptt.WAPDA

Tube wells drilledunder DIMRC Total

1950-60 75 - - - - 75

1961-65 80 - - - - 80

1966-70 00 - - 29 - 29

1971-75 81 - - 143 - 224

1976-80 89 - - 411 - 500

1981-85 147 64 - 272 - 483

1986-90 174 45 157 446 - 822

1991-95 56 68 221 375 - 720

1996-97 33 32 62 91 - 218

1997-98 13 24 45 - - 82

1998-99 39 42 45 - - 126

1999-00 41 - 41 - - 82

2000-01 104 - 43 - - 147

2001-02 140 - 42 - - 182

2002-03 187 - 38 - - 225

2003-till date 183 - 33 -489

705

Total 1442 275 727 1,767 489 4700Source: Tube well Database, September 2004, WRPD&M Directorate, I&P, Government of Balochistan.

LEGEND

I&P Deptt. = Irrigation and Power Department, Government ofBalochistan.BDA = Balochistan Development Authority.PHE Deptt. = Public Health Engineering Department,

Government of Balochistan.WAPDA = Water and Power Development Authority,Government of Pakistan.

IMPACT OF GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT

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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 WATERRESOURCES

(ORIGINAL AND AS ON 2001)

Sub-BasinTotal Points

1996Dried

No. of

AWLR*

Piezometer

well

Open

Wells

Existing

Network

2001

Quetta North 38 14 10 01 13 24Quetta South 11 02 0 02 07 09Pishin 49 22 0 01 26 27Mastung 33 12 02 01 18 21

Mangochar 04 02 01 0 01 02Total Points 135 52 13 05 65 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.

Table-3: MONITORING RESULTS-PISHIN LORA BASIN

Sub-BasinDecline in Water Level

Period Average (Feet)

Quetta North(Current Rate more

than )4.40

Quetta South (Current Rate)3.00

Pishin (Current Rate)5.00

Mastung (Current Rate)3.00

Mangochar (Current Rate)5.00

Source: Groundwater Level Fluctuation Report-Bureau of Water Resources, Government of Balochistan. 1996-2003

GROUNDWATER POTENTIAL OF VARIOUS BASINS

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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. Hydrogeological BasinGroundwater

Potential (Cusec)

1 Zhob River Basin 125

2 Nari River Basin 120

3 Kachhi Plain 95

4 Pishin Lora Basin 145

5 Mula River Basin 26

6 Gaj River Basin 38

7 Porali River Basin 155

8 Hingol River Basin 168

9 Hamun-e-Lora Basin 28

10 Dashat River Basin 51

11 Rakhshan River Basin 27

12 Hamun-e-Mashkhel Basin 68

13 Other Areas 140Total 1,186

Source: Groundwater Resources of Balochistan Province, Pakistan WAPDA June 1993.

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-5shows the water balance in these sub basins.

Table 5: GROUNDWATER BALANCE IN SELECTED BASINS OF BALOCHISTAN

Basin Sub BasinRecharge

(cusec)

Extractions

(cusec)

Overdrawn out of

storage (cusec)

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Pishin Lora Quetta-North 38.4 67.2 28.8

Pishin-Lora Mastung 21.8 31.7 9.8

Pishin-Lora Mangochar 10.0 24.7 14.7

Pishin-Lora Pishin 28.5 84.0 55.5

Nari Loralai 63.2 74.8 11.6

Zhob Qilla Saifullah -West 41.3 59.4 80.1

Source: Balochistan Groundwater Reassessment ADB/Halcrow, 1996.

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.

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Table 1: EFFECT OF DROUGHT ON HUMAN POPULATION

Division NameTotal

Population

Affected

PopulationPercentage

Kalat 1,236,802 378,964 31%

Zhob 997,165 280,000 28%

Naseerabad 634,758 161,507 25%

Makran 816,227 544,792 66%

Quetta 1,728,708 375,015 21%

Sibi 489,708 171,256 35%

Total 5,903,368 1,911,534 32%

Source: Drought in Balochistan data compile by Drought Relief Commissioner

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Table 2: EFFECT OF DROUGHT ON LIVESTOCK POPULATION

Division

Name

Total

Heads of

Animals

Affected Population MORTALITY

Numbers Percentage Numbers Percentage

Kalat 8,721,472 1,048,311 12% 355,229 4%

Zhob 7,219,087 4,000,000 55% 710,000 10%

Naseerabad 2,107,057 166,917 8% - - - - - - - - - -

Makran 1,074,036 577,423 54% 125,281 11.5%

Quetta 1,377,916 751,217 54% 349,923 25%

Sibi 4,086,965 1,373,098 34% 136,870 3.5%

Total 26,042,336 7,916,966 30% 1,677,303 65%Source: Drought in Balochistan data compile by Drought Relief Commissioner

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Table 3: EFFECT OF DROUGHT ON CROP PRODUCTION

Division NameCROPS AFFECTED

(Acres)Percentage

Kalat 1,339,813.00 Wheat, Masoon, Mong, Maash, Moth etc.

Zhob 34,267.50 Wheat,

Naseerabad 281,275.00 Wheat, Pulses, Jawar, Oil Seads etc.

Makran 23,197.50Date, Wheat, Rice, Barley, Vegetables, Fodder

etc.

Quetta 132,758.00

Sibi 161,858.00 Wheat, Jawar, Bajra, Fruits etc.

Total 1,973,169.00Source: Drought in Balochistan data compile by Drought Relief Commissioner

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Table 4: CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMALS FOR QUETTA

MonthTemp. (oF)

MeanEvapora-

tion

Aver.Wind

Velocity

Precipi-tation

Air Humidity (%)

Max. Min. (mm) (Knots) (mm) 0800 hrs 1700 hrs

Jan 51 27 79 4.9 49 82 55Feb 56 30 98 5.8 50 74 48Mar 65 38 166 6.2 44 72 45

Apr 76 45 231 5.5 25 61 37

May 87 51 310 5.9 10 48 31

Jun 94 58 319 5.9 04 44 29

Jul 96 66 315 6.5 12 56 32

Aug 94 62 279 5.7 08 61 36

Sep 88 50 230 4.6 01 52 30

Oct 77 38 175 4.0 03 51 29Nov 65 29 111 3.5 07 66 36

Dec 56 25 75 3.6 01 82 50Total 2388 214

Source: Soil Survey of Pakistan

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Table-5: CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMALS FOR LORALAI

MonthTemp. (oC)

MeanEvapora-

tion

Aver.Wind

Velocity

Precipi-tation

Air Humidity (%)

Max. Min. (mm) (Knots) (mm) 0800 hrs 1700 hrs

Jan 13 -01 81 3.6 26 70 41Feb 16 01 104 3.5 20 63 33Mar 21 06 170 4.4 40 58 30

Apr 27 11 223 3.8 23 48 24

May 32 16 289 4.5 20 39 22

Jun 35 19 301 3.9 09 39 23

Jul 34 21 271 3.3 34 62 37

Aug 33 19 247 3.0 40 52 39

Sep 32 15 216 3.0 05 44 27

Oct 23 09 170 3.4 03 35 22Nov 22 04 118 3.4 07 41 25

Dec 16 00 82 3.3 17 59 36Total 2272 244


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Table 6: CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMALS FOR CHAMAN

MonthTemp. (oF)

MeanEvapora-

tion

Aver.Wind

Velocity

Precipi-tation

Air Humidity (%)

Max. Min. (mm) (Knots) (mm) 0800 hrs 1700 hrsJan 53 35 83 4.1 57 67 50

Feb 59 40 111 4.8 54 57 42

Mar 68 47 176 5.3 46 53 36

Apr 80 57 242 5.2 22 44 31May 91 66 313 5.3 06 35 24

Jun 98 72 331 5.3 01 34 22Jul 101 77 311 4.7 04 37 25

Aug 98 74 283 4.5 04 35 22

Sep 92 65 233 4.1 00.5 32 23

Oct 80 54 180 3.4 03 36 23

Nov 69 44 122 4.1 09 43 28

Dec 59 38 83 3.6 34 57 42

Total 2468 240.5


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Table 7: CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMALS FOR KALAT

Month

Averagemonthly

temp

MeanEvapora-

tion

Aver.Wind

Velocity

Precipi-tation

Relativehumidity

(oC) (mm) (Knots) (mm) (%)Jan 3.2 75 4.9 49 60

Feb 3.6 100 5.8 37 62

Mar 10.2 160 6.2 32 54

Apr 13.7 215 5.5 12 46May 18.4 273 5.9 07 40

Jun 23.5 288 5.9 03 43Jul 25.5 270 6.5 24 51

Aug 23.8 249 5.7 18 50

Sep 19.6 214 4.6 03 41

Oct 13.7 165 4.0 00.2 38

Nov 7.8 110 3.5 03 34

Dec 5.2 79 3.6 17 64

Total 2198 205.2


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Table 8: CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMALS FOR LASBELA

MonthTemp. (oC)

MeanEvapora-

tion

Aver.Wind

Velocity

Precipi-tation

Air Humidity (%)

Max. Min. (mm) (Knots) (mm) 0800 hrs 1700 hrsJan 26 08 108 1.8 08 69 45

Feb 29 10 134 2.5 15 69 42

Mar 33 15 201 3.2 16 65 37

Apr 39 19 253 3.4 09 65 35May 42 24 311 3.6 16 73 42

Jun 42 27 312 4.5 12 72 44Jul 39 27 278 4.2 61 78 52

Aug 38 26 262 3.9 32 81 56

Sep 38 24 243 4.0 14 81 52

Oct 38 19 200 2.5 03 65 42

Nov 34 13 138 1.7 01 55 41

Dec 29 11 106 1.5 09 62 45

Total 2546 196


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Table No: 5 EFFECT OF DROUGHT ON KAREZES

TOTAL NO ESTIMATED

KAREZES

TOTAL NO OF DRIED

KAREZES

800 175

Source: IUCN Balochistan Conservation Strategy Background 2000

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Table 6:YEARWISE DRILLING OF TUBEWELLS BY GOVERNMENTAGENCIES

PeriodI&P

Deptt. BDAPHE

Deptt.WAPDA

Tube wells drilled

under DIMRC Total

1950-60 75 - - - - 751961-65 80 - - - - 80

1966-70 00 - - 29 - 29

1971-75 81 - - 143 - 224

1976-80 89 - - 411 - 500

1981-85 147 64 - 272 - 483

1986-90 174 45 157 446 - 822

1991-95 56 68 221 375 - 720

1996-97 33 32 62 91 - 218

1997-98 13 24 45 - - 82

1998-99 39 42 45 - - 126

1999-00 41 - 41 - - 82

2000-01 104 - 43 - - 1472001-02 140 - 42 - - 182

2002-03 187 - 38 - - 225

2003-till date 183 - 33 -489

705

Total 1442 275 727 1,767 489 4700Source: Tube well Database, September 2004, WRPD&M Directorate, I&P, Government of Balochistan.

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Table No: 7 TOTAL NOS OF OPERATIONAL WATERING POINTS ESTIMATED

BY

IUCN

TOTAL NOS OF

WATERING POINTS

TOTAL NOS OF

OPERATIONAL

T/WELLS

TOTAL NOS OF OPERATIONAL

DUG WELLS

24000 21000 3000

Source: IUCN Balochistan Conservation Strategy Background 2000

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depleting water resources of balochistan 30.09

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