Ground Water Resources of Punjab, Pakistan

Ground Water Resources of Punjab, Pakistan

Introduction

The Punjab-Land of Five Rivers-consists of the vast alluvial plain traversed by the Indus River and its tributaries, the Chenab, Sutlej, Jhelum, and Ravi Rivers, in the northern part of West Pakis­ tan. Toward the north the Punjab is bordered by the Himalayan Foothills, the Salt Range, and the Potwar Plateau. The Indus and Sutlej Rivers are, respectively, the western and southeastern boundaries of the area. The alluvial plain extends southward, beyond the Punjab, to the Arabian Sea

Irrigated agriculture is of prime importance. It generates 90% of Pakistan's agricultural production. Thanks to the investments of the last 120 years, the Indus irrigation system, covering 86% of the national irrigated area, has become the largest contiguous irrigation system in the world.   Groundwater has become an increasingly important resource  for  irrigation,  particularly  in the  Punjab,  in the  northern  Indus. Plain,  where  it contributes  an estimated  50% of  the  on-farm  water  supplies 

In Punjab, the importance of groundwater can be ascertained from the fact that quantitatively, it is contributing over 50% of canal water supplies available at the farm-gate. Canal system provides about 55 MAF of water to Punjab each year. Of this amount approximately 40% recharge goes to the groundwater. This recharge and additional irrigation water is provided through groundwater extraction. Presently there are about 500 000 private tube wells in the Province abstracting 30 MAF to cover an area of 51 MAC. Discharge of the private tube wells varies from less than 0.5 cusecs to more than 1.5 cusecs and operation factor ranges from about 3% to more than 30% with an average of 10.5%. Additional groundwater 4 MAF is extracted for SCARPs, industrial and domestic use.

Punjab constitutes an area of 50,968 m acres. Its canal irrigated area is about 24.3 m acres. It lies mainly in the four Doabs , a part of Bahawalpur and some portions in D G Khan. The remaining 27 m acres depend upon rainfall.  

Groundwater

Before the development of the irrigation system crops were irrigated by active flood plain. After the floods the plains were planted and supplementary water requirements were derived from ground water through Persian wheels, open wells and by lifting water from ponds. Knowledge of water formations existing within 50 ft to 100 ft was available and utilized. Later with advent of centrifugal pumps deeper water resources were utilized there was, however, no systematic study of the ground water resources. In 1954 Punjab Agriculture Department in cooperation of US Geological Survey started a study Of the soils and ground water resources. These investigations supported by WASID of WAODA outlined the existence of the Aquifer.

Ground Water Potential

The main source of groundwater in the Punjab lies in the four hydrogeological zones, namely Potohar plateau & salt range, Piedmont areas, Alluvial plains and Cholistan desert. Indus River and its tributaries drain the province. In Punjab a lot of work has been carried out on seepage from the irrigation system and the resulting recharge to the groundwater (PPSGWP, 1998). The groundwater potential is based on rainfall recharge, groundwater recharge and recharge from irrigation system. The rainfall recharge of 9.90 MAF (15% from 380 mm/year) in different SCARP areas was worked out during the period 1987-97 (PPSGWP, 1998). The recharge from return flow, irrigation application, and sub-surface inflows was assessed 7.08 MAF (22.5% of 31.5 MAF). Canal seepage varies from 2 to 8 cfs/msf depending on the size of canal and drainage characteristics. A delivery of 24 large canals for the irrigation year 1990-91 was with an average of 54 MAF. The recharge from these canals was estimated 21.70 MAF (40% of 54 MAF). The recharge from rivers was 3.5 MAF and return flows from domestic and industrial use were assessed as 0.57 MAF (22.5% of 2.52 MAF). The total available groundwater resource of the Punjab Province was estimated 42.75 MAF

Formation of the Aquifer

The geographical division between the Indus Plain and the mountains has a parallel in the aquifer systems between the two regions    The Indus Plain was formed by sediment deposits from the Indus River and its tributaries, and it is underlain by a highly transmissive, unconfined aquifer. In the Punjab, most groundwater supplies are fresh. The main exceptions are the areas of saline groundwater in the centre of the interfluviums ('doab'), particularly those between Multan and Faisalabad, around Sargodha, and in the south-eastern part of the province

Groundwater law and policy

The use of groundwater for irrigated agriculture in Pakistan has a long history. The existence of vertical well systems ('karezes') in Balochistan was documented by Greek travelers as long as 2500 years ago. Persian wheels formed an important element in the flood-recession agriculture in the Indus Plain prior to the development of surface irrigation. The present degree of groundwater exploitation in Pakistan is unprecedented.

In 1960, groundwater still accounted for only 8% of the farm-gate water supplies in Pakistan's most populous Province, the Punjab. Twenty-five years later, in 1985, this amount had gone up to 40%. This figure is nowadays considered to be on the conservative side and ground water supplies about the same amount of water as the irrigation system • Fresh groundwater was exploited to be used conjunctively with surface water. This way, intense shallow tube well development in the Indus Plain made up for many of the deficiencies of unreliable and insufficient water supplies in the Indus irrigation system. Outside the large­ scale irrigation in the Indus Plain, groundwater development changed the face of many arid areas, in the un-irrigated tracts of  Punjab. According to official estimates, the development of shallow wells and deep tube wells has played the main role in the expansion of the area under cultivation in Pakistan, with 75% of the increase in water supplies from 1960 to 1985 being attributable to public and private groundwater exploitation. During the same period, the cropping intensity increased by 39% (MINFA 1988).

With this dramatic increase in the intensity of groundwater exploitation, the policy landscape has changed. The main policy issues now relate to environmental sustainability and welfare, i.e. how to avoid declining groundwater tables and deteriorating groundwater quality in fresh groundwater areas, and how to ensure equal access to this increasingly important natural resource. Two different, and partially opposing, policy themes dominated the political agenda. The first theme was the control of high groundwater tables in the canal irrigated areas in the Indus Basin. The second theme was the active promotion of tube well installation as a means to encourage. Agricultural development

   Tube well promotion for agricultural development

 

Besides the control of water logging and salinity, a second important policy in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s was the promotion of private tube well development. In canal-irrigated areas, private tube well development can help alleviate drainage problems. This was probably one reason why the licensing procedures of the Soil Reclamation Act and the WAPDA Act were never enforced. Outside the canal irrigated areas private tube wells can foster economic development. In the un-irrigated parts of the Indus Plain, in Balochistan, and in North West Frontier Province, private tube wells make it possible to bring large tracts of land under cultivation.

Private groundwater exploitation was stimulated in several ways. Foremost among these was to provide subsidized power supplies to tube well owners.  . Several government programs promoted tube well development by providing free pump sets and wells, and by making soft loans  

Private tube well development soon took off, even without public subsidies. Private tube well ownership in the Indus Plain exceeded 400,000 in the early 1990s. By this time, Balochistan and North West Frontier Province each had more than 10,000 tube wells. By the late 1980s, the Report of the National Commission on Agriculture concluded that groundwater development could now be left entirely to the private sector. Almost all government support to private tube well installation came to an end. The most important exception was the continuation of the low electricity tariffs for agricultural tube wells.

Current ground water issues

Groundwater policy of the last 40 years in Pakistan can be summarized by a number of characteristics: The  focus  of  groundwater  policy  was  on  the  control  of  water logging  and  the stimulation of private tube well development. Government interventions were supply driven. There was little concern about overexploitation of aquifers or deteriorating groundwater quality.

Groundwater  policy  relied  on  public  investment  and  subsidies  rather  than  on regulation.  Legislation was not enforced.  It was not clear whether the federal government or the provincial governments should regulate groundwater exploitation. All policies were initiated and implemented at provincial and federal level. The involvement of local government was minor. There was no involvement of local farmers’ organizations.  Local government and farmers’ organizations are weak in Pakistan.

During the last 40 years, the spectacular increase in the number of private tube wells has changed the setting entirely and invalidated the old policies. In several fresh groundwater areas in the Indus Plain, there has been a complete volte-face. Where 30 years ago high groundwater tables were the major threat, groundwater levels have now declined due to private tube well development. Salinization through capillary rise is no longer a threat, but the intense pumping poses other threats to soil and water quality.

Outside the canal-irrigated areas of the Indus Plain,· the promotion of private tube well development is outdated. Groundwater is no longer the limitless resource it once was. In the absence of effective regulation, the large numbers of tube wells have resulted in groundwater mining. In addition, the social issue of distribution of access to groundwater has come to the fore. Because most of the tube wells are privately owned, the question is: How can people without a private tube well use the groundwater? The next section begins with a discussion of the current groundwater issues in the Indus Plain and the mountain provinces. It concludes with a brief look at another emerging groundwater issue, i.e. the declining urban water tables.

Groundwater issues in the Indus Basin Punjab

Owing to public and private groundwater development, water logging has disappeared from most fresh groundwater areas of the Punjab. It persists, however, in isolated natural depressions and in areas with saline shallow groundwater, in particular in the centers of the interfluviums and in the south-east. As a result, the Punjab suffers from the paradox of having areas with high water tables and areas where tube well development has been so intense that water tables are declining. A study undertaken in 1990 suggests that in the Punjab the volume of groundwater extracted significantly exceeds the volume of water recharged. The study estimates the difference to be as much as 27% on a provincial basis (NESPAKISGI 1991), but this over extraction is concentrated in a number of fresh groundwater areas.

Localized overexploitation in fresh groundwater areas has already lowered groundwater tables 2m to 4 m in some places. There are also fears that the intense use of groundwater will lead to a deterioration of groundwater quality. The first reason for such a decline in groundwater quality is the intrusion of water from saline groundwater zones into the over pumped fresh groundwater zones (Ahmad and Kutcher 1992). The second reason is associated with the heavy reliance on groundwater vis-a-vis surface water, particularly towards those tail-ends of the distributaries and watercourses where surface water supplies are scarce and erratic. (Recent research by IIMI Pakistan indicates that unreliable tail supplies are related more to the type of outlet than the distance from the distributary head.) Because groundwater is generally more saline and sodic than canal water, the increased reliance on it in certain areas is bringing more salts to the soils and causing deterioration of soil and groundwater quality. VanderVelde and Kijne (1992) established this scenario for the tail-ends of two distributaries in the Punjab, but in other distributaries fresh groundwater recharge is better at the tail-ends. The extent of groundwater-induced secondary salinization still needs to be established. In their study of the SCARP-1 project area, Beg and Lone (1992) looked at changing groundwater quality parameters in 1900 tubewells over a time span of 25 years.  They established that overall groundwater quality had deteriorated, particularly in residual sodium-content levels. Many of the wells in which groundwater quality had improved were next to an even larger number of wells where quality had deteriorated. In another study,undertaken by IWASRI (1995), soil quality was monitored in SCARP areas. The IWASRI study established that only 7% of the sample plots had turned saline and/or sadie from the long-term use of tube well irrigation. These plots were mainly irrigated from tube wells with marginal water qualities. The study also found that in 41% of the plots, soil salinity and/or sodicity had disappeared. In summary, the data on the extent of the changes in soil and groundwater quality due to secondary salinization is inconclusive and contradictory.

The spectacular increase in private tubewells in the Punjab began in the 1960s, with the installation of 'black engines.' These are low-speed prime movers that operate on crude oil. The rural electricity grid expanded in the 1970s, and electricity became the preferred source of energy for the tube wells. Gradually the electricity tariffs - although still subsidized - went up. Between 1989 and 1993 flat rates increased by 126%, and electricity lost its popularity as the main source of energy. The big boom in private tubewell development in the 1980s was generated by the availability of locally manufactured high-speed diesel engines ('peters'). These diesel engines, with a typical capacity of 12 to 15 hp, operated centrifugal pumps, lifting between 20 and 30 I per s. The relatively low investment costs (usually below US $ 1200) opened up the sector to small farmers. Moreover, there were no fixed energy charges for the diesel engines, as there were for electric pump sets. This was particularly useful for conjunctive water use, for which the hours of utilization of the pumpsets were relatively low. In·the irrigated areas of Dera Ghazi Khan and Layyah districts, in the cotton belt of the eastern Punjab, the number of tube wells doubled between 1981 and 1987, and then doubled again between 1988 and 1991. By 1993, tube well density in Dera Ghazi Khan had increased to 4.4 per 100 acres from 0.7 in 1981. In Layyah, in the same period, tube well density increased to 2.7 per 100 acres from 0.5 in 1981. Operation factors (the proportion of hours of utilization) were 5.3% in Dera Ghazi Khan and 3.9% in Layyah (van Steenbergen 1993). In the rice-and­

wheat belt in the south-western  Punjab, the growth in tube well numbers was exponential.

. With the data they collected data from the Lagar Distributary of the Lower Chenab channel in Sheikhupura district, VanderVelde and Johnson (1992) established that the number of tube wells had increased four-fold between 1980 and 1989. In 1989, tube well density in the area also served by public SCARP tube wells was 2.2 per 100 acres. In another canal command in the same area, the Mananwala distributary, Malik and Strasser (1993) found that tube well proliferation and density were comparable. The average operation factor was 9.4%, higher than in either of the two cotton belt areas 

Within the separate canal command areas, there is no clear-cut pattern in tube well densities. Intuitively, one would expect the dependence on groundwater to be higher at the tail of the systems, where surface supplies are generally .low. And indeed, tube well densities in the canal commands of Dera Ghazi Khan increased steadily towards the tail of the distributaries, whereas tube well operation factors were more or less constant throughout the command area. This indicates that in the tail areas of Dera Ghazi Khan there are short peaks when water is in high demand and all of the tube wells are used intensively. In Layyah, on the other hand, groundwater utilization is relatively uniform throughout the canal command area. The explanation is that rotational surface water supply makes the distribution of surface water scarcity relatively equitable in Layyah. As a result, the demand for groundwater in Layyah is uniform in the different parts of the command area. In Mananwala, tubewell densities were  comparatively high in the head reach and in the tail reach of the distributary. The intense use of groundwater in the head reach is explained by the prevalence of rice. In the tail reach, groundwater is used as a substitute for the surface water supplies, which are sometimes lacking altogether (Malik and Strasser 1993).

A remarkable finding in all four case study areas is that tube well densities in areas with marginal groundwater quality do not substantially differ from those in areas with fresh groundwater. Yet particularly in many tail reaches, little good quality surface water is available to mix with the marginal quality groundwater. This is the reason why some have warned against the danger of groundwater-irrigation-induced soil salinity in the tail reaches (Murray­ Rust and vander Velde 1992). It is only in areas with very saline groundwater, such as the Fordwah Sadiqia area in the extreme south-west of the province, that tube well densities are lower. The tube wells that are in use are usually skimming wells, which skim off the thin layer of fresh water that floats on the saline water.

An issue related to the distribution of tube wells over the command area is the theme of equity in access to groundwater. Several authors in the early 1980s argued that access to groundwater was being monopolized by a few 'water lords,' who could afford to install a tubewell• In reaction, others pointed out that the inequity in ownership was mitigated to some extent, as less fortunate farmers could hire the tube wells (Meinzen-Dick and Sullins 1992, Strasser and Kuper 1993). There were debates on several ways to make the water markets more effective in reaching non-owners. Nevertheless, the question of access to groundwater has to be placed in a dynamic perspective. There are indications that tube well numbers have increased as tubewell operation factors have decreased. A number of surveys took place in Dera Ghazi Khan and Layyah. In 1983, operation factors were 5.3% in Dera Ghazi Khan and 6.0% in Layyah. A second survey in 1986 recorded higher operation factors: 9.5% in Dera Ghazi Khan and 8.0% in Layyah. In 1992, however, tube well operation factors were significantly lower: 5.3% for Dera Ghazi Khan and 3.9% for Layyah. In the six years from 1986 to 1992, the number of tubewells in Dera Ghazi Khan had increased by 174%. In Layyah, the increase was 131%. What appeared to have happened is that the demand for groundwater was slowly saturated in this period. Even so, the number of tube wells increased. Small farmers, especially, purchased their own tube well, sometimes pooling resources with others. This decreased their dependence on tubewell-water purchases from other farmers. For those who could still not afford their own tube well, the situation improved nevertheless, as there were more providers. Water prices did not go up in this period, despite an increase in the water-lifting costs. This further suggests that groundwater market changed from a sellers' market to a buyers' market

The tremendous growth in the number of private tube wells caused the government of the Punjab to reconsider its role in groundwater management. As shallow wells were providing vertical drainage, the government decided to phase out the public tube wells  in the fresh groundwater areas. Over the years, operation and maintenance costs of the deep tube wells had become prohibitive.  Moreover, the condition  of  the  SCARP  deep  tube wells  had deteriorated to the point where 67% of the tube wells were operating at less than 50% of their original capacity. The policy of phasing out public tube wells took shape in the SCARP-1 area, where farmers were provided with a subsidy to develop a private tube well to compensate for the reduction in the discharge from the SCARP tube well. The intention is to close down all of the SCARP tube wells in fresh groundwater areas before the year 2002. The government's direct involvement in groundwater management will come almost to an end. Public deep tube wells will continue to be operated only in areas with saline groundwater, to prevent saline groundwater intrusion in fresh groundwater zones.  It has to be said that in many saline Ground water areas the farmers have already made efforts to close down the tube wells, to prevent the saline effluent, which was often inadequately drained, from spoiling their land.

Urban groundwater issues

Most of Pakistan's major cities rely on private pumping for domestic water supply. The piped supply from the Water and Sanitation Agencies is generally far too limited and unreliable. Shallow private wells are sunk in large numbers to augment supplies - even where restrictions are in force, such as in the city of Quetta (Balochistan). The large-scale exploitation of the aquifer underneath the cities has led to falling water tables and to contamination of water supplies by leaking sewerage systems and septic tanks, as Rahman (1996) has documented for Karachi. In Quetta, the overexploitation of the confined aquifer by agricultural users in the surrounding area has already led to doomsday projections, predicting that in the foreseeable future even the supply from deep groundwater to the capital of Balochistan will dry up. Another problem is the excavation of the river beds near the big cities, to provide building material. In the Malir River near Karachi, for instance, the disturbance of the river bed has already resulted in a limited recharge of water flows and reduced water levels in wells in the adjacent area.

So far these urban groundwater problems have gone unaddressed. The same is true of industrial groundwater contamination. There are indications that the uncontrolled disposal of industrial waste water and the sludge from petrol pumps has contaminated groundwater supplies, but there is hardly any monitoring of the problem, and even less control.

Tube Wells

 In Punjab 2903 Thousands HA were irrigated by tube wells in 2015. .There were 1.028 m electric  Tube wells out of which 1.027 were private, there were 0.896 m diesel tube wells out of which 0.865 were private. The diesel-operated tube wells/wells constitute 87 percent of Pakistan’s total tube well population. The current tub well density in Punjab is 46. The utilization factor of electric tube wells is almost double than the diesel tube wells. Similarly, utilization factor of all category private tube wells during Kharif season is more than double than in the Rabi season. The utilization factor of private tube wells is greatly influenced by tube well type, growing season and agro-climatic zone.  . · There is a big mismatch between the depth of water table and the energy (horsepower) used to pump groundwater from this depth. This is one of the major sources of energy wastage in the agriculture sector of Pakistan. The efficiency of locally made diesel tube wells is also very low, which is not only causing serious energy losses but also increasing pumping costs. There is a possibility to improve energy efficiency of locally produced pumps by at least 50 percent, which will decrease energy bill of private tube well owners. · The cost of installing tube wells soar rapidly as water table depth declines. The cost of installing tube well in areas where water table depth is more than 24 meters is 7 times higher as compared to those areas where water table depth is around 6 meters. The estimated annual fuel (diesel) consumption by the diesel tube wells in Pakistan is about 950 million liters, which is worth Rs. 16 billion. The electric tube wells’ power consumption is currently 1.02 billion kilo watt-hours (kwh) costing Rs. 2.6 billion annually. The total energy cost of operating private tube wells is about Rs. 18.6 billion per annum. · The farmers with access to good quality groundwater are getting substantially higher crop yields. The yields of wheat, cotton and rice crops are 41, 75 and 68 percent higher than average national yields, respectively. The survey results show that the groundwater quality (dS/m) varies from 0.3- 4.6 in Punjab. The groundwater quality varies depending on its origin, the source of recharge and the pattern of groundwater movement in the aquifer. · The selling prices of groundwater are about 50 percent higher in NWFP as compared to Punjab and Sindh. These higher prices are due to elevation differences of agricultural lands that limit the farmers to buy water from the tube well of their vicinity. This allows the tube well owners to monopolize the prices. However in other parts of Pakistan, the selling price of electric tube wells is almost half of diesel tube wells. This is mainly due to lower O & M costs of electric tube wells. · High-energy costs, declining groundwater tables and incipient secondary salinization are considered to be the biggest threats to the sustainability of groundwater irrigation in Pakistan.  Pakistan’s groundwater economy is largely farmer-financed; about 77 percent tube well owners use their own funds, 10 percent acquire bank loans and rest of the farmers depend on other sources like joint ownership, borrowing from relatives and friends and subsidy to install their private tube wells.

Implications

. Groundwater has become a major source of water supply in Pakistan. Excessive use of groundwater is causing secondary salinisation .   Continuous over-draft has resulted in excessive groundwater abstraction, so that 5% area of Punjab Province contains groundwater out of reach of poor farmers. Up-coning of deep saline water has started in some parts of Pakistan . There is a need to realistically estimate and manage the demand for water . The flat-rate energy charge has encouraged farmers to exploit more and more groundwater, which has resulted in an unsustainable situation.

It is difficult not to be pessimistic about groundwater management in Pakistan. As the study on the Indus basin by Masood and Kutcher (1992:92) concludes, '...in all probability, the quality of groundwater, on which  Pakistan  depends  for  about one-third  of  its irrigation supplies, is deteriorating. Within a few years, most of it may be unusable, or out of reach of existing pumps. Given that tube well farmers have been the singular bright spot in the sector for the last two decades, this prospect is most discomforting.' At the same time, water logging persists in the areas of saline groundwater in the Indus Plain. In the mountain provinces, in Balochistan, and in a number of areas of North West Frontier province, the intensity of groundwater mining is already far beyond sustainable limits. The decline in groundwater tables, it appears, can be stopped only by a drastic reduction in tube well numbers. The trend is, however, the opposite, and it seems that only the shore will stop the ship. Finally, urban drinking water supplies from private wells in several large cities are in jeopardy as well.

The development of groundwater exploitation has brought about major social changes too. The falling groundwater tables in Balochistan have led to the decline of karezes throughout the province, denying many farmers access to the vital resource. On the other hand, former have gained access to groundwater by developing dug wells. In areas where groundwater has fallen below the level that can be exploited by a dug well, deep tube wells appeared on the scene. Because the investment costs for a tube well are high, access to groundwater was monopolized by those who could afford to pay them.

To some extent, selling of water from private tube wells mitigates the inequity. Relatively brisk water sales are reported in all provinces. It is obvious, however, that non-owners are last in the cue, making groundwater supplies to them less reliable and, in times of scarcity, the object of a favor. These problems are compounded by rights-of-way issues and conveyance losses. This explains why in many areas shallow tube well installation - which is relatively expensive- continued, even where there are active groundwater markets. Ultimately, with the number of groundwater providers increasing, the market was saturated. Water lease prices decreased, and non-tube well owners had a larger choice of tube wells from which they could take water. While this increase in installed capacity improved equity in access, the downside was that it contributes even further to overdrafts.

Aquifer Recharge  

The different and complementary characteristics of surface water and groundwater make it possible to solve specific needs of water quantity and quality more adequately and economically than if both resources are used separately. Aquifers can provide water storage, distribution, and treatment that can be combined with surface water and hydraulic structures to augment water availability more economically and in a more functional and environmental way. Likewise, groundwater possesses other advantages such as its adaptability to a progressive increase in water demand, the possibility of temporary overexploitation as a means of deferring costly construction projects, for mitigating the effects of droughts, and alleviating drainage problems. Another virtue of groundwater in conjunctive use schemes is the insurance role it plays  . Aquifer storage can be used through artificial recharge and alternate conjunctive use. Groundwater is used more during dry periods, while surface water is used more extensively in wet periods in alternate conjunctive use. This strategy enables an increase in water availability through an increase in subsurface storage. 

Recommendations

 

1. A groundwater regulatory framework should be introduced and implemented for the sustainability of groundwater use

 2. There is need to manage the demand of water

3. Low water delta crops should be preferred to high delta crops

 4. Efficient irrigation methods should be used to irrigate crops

5. Recharge of groundwater should be increased by increasing canal diversions, rainwater harvesting and check dams

6. Saline water can be used for saline agro-forestry or for alternative agricultural crops

7. Energy charges should be at least equal to the cost of delivering electricity to  tube wells

8. Research on groundwater recharge is urgently required.

                                                                                                     

It has been argued that groundwater management should be part of a larger effort to integrate water resource management in Pakistan (Bhatti and Kijne 1992). Ahmad and Kutcher (1992) argue that a reallocation of surface water supplies between fresh groundwater areas with relatively low surface irrigation duties and fresh groundwater areas with high irrigation duties and saline groundwater areas, would go a long way to reduce groundwater mining in the former areas and to water logging in the latter areas. VanderVelde and Kijne (1992) looked at various possibilities of redistributing surface water supplies along one distributary channel so as to improve groundwater quality in the middle and tail sections, and they concluded that insufficient surface water was available for the canal to achieve such an objective. Reallocation between and within canal distributaries is, moreover, politically unacceptable at present. Yet, given the need for integrating surface and groundwater management, one would hope that this will change, and that there will be more flexibility in redirecting surface supplies

Ahmad and Kutcher (1992) argue further that channel and watercourse lining should be undertaken in saline groundwater areas to reduce seepage from the surface irrigation systems. At the same time, more investment in subsurface drainage is required. The costs of such investments, however, are substantial, and while they will probably prevent the problem from worsening, they cannot remove it. Yet even more is needed. For fresh groundwater  areas, both in the Indus Basin and the mountain provinces, effective regulation is required. There is, however, a lot of ground to cover in this field. To start with, the data available on groundwater is patchy and often outdated or irretrievable. Systematic monitoring is limited to the SCARP areas, where it is done by the Federal Water and Power Development Authority. Outside the SCARP areas, very little monitoring is undertaken. There is an urgent need to improve monitoring of groundwater levels and groundwater quality. With respect to groundwater quality, there is also a need to start investigating the contamination of groundwater by pesticides, particularly in the cotton- growing areas, that account for the lion's share of pesticide consumption in Pakistan (World Bank 1996) . This raises a second issue, i.e. the responsibility for groundwater management. For a long time there was confusion as to which organization had the mandate in this regard. As. explained, for a long time there was even confusion on basic issues, such as whether it is the province or the federal government that is responsible for groundwater management. The conflicting stands of the WAPDA Act and the Soil Conservation Act were noted, with the first confirming federal responsibility and the second confirming provincial responsibility. Even more confusion was added by an ordinance from 1979 (the Local Government Ordinance), which suggests that all groundwater falling within the local area of an urban council shall come under the control of this local government body. Fortunately, the new  and overriding acts that have come into force in 1997, for the Provincial Irrigation and Drainage Authorities in all four provinces, makes an end to the confusion and puts the responsibility for groundwater management, irrigation and drainage operations, and cost recovery clearly with the newly established  Provincial  Irrigation  and  Drainage  Authorities.  These new authorities are to ensure that groundwater monitoring is undertaken, and they have a mandate· to initiate policies to address groundwater management problems.

Moreover, the Environmental Protection Agency Act of 1996 offers the beginnings of a legal basis for groundwater-quality management. This Act calls for the establishment of Environmental Protection Councils at federal and provincial level that will set standards on groundwater quality. Most likely the provisions of the Environmental Protection Agency Act will be applicable to industrial effluent standards rather than to rural groundwater quality.

Because these Acts have been issued recently, little has happened in operational terms so far. The Provincial Irrigation and Drainage Authorities were notified of their promulgation only in the second half of 1997. Realistically, one can expect the Authorities to be occupied with establishing themselves as revenue-generating and self-accounting bodies for some time to come, before they will be able to address the challenges of groundwater management.

. A third issue is the role of local organizations. On paper, the Balochistan Groundwater Rights Ordinance created the scope for the development of local rules and the involvement of local groundwater users. Unfortunately the Ordinance was badly implemented, and in one valley It even demoralized groundwater users who had developed their own pooled-resource management regime. An important lesson from Balochistan  is that ordinances, acts, and laws are meaningless without enforcement and the involvement of groundwater users, The question remains, Who will take the effort of organizing the users of the new groundwater resource? In Balochistan and parts of North West Frontier province, organization appears to be the only way forward. In other areas (e.g. the Punjab and Sind), the sheer number of groundwater users is too large to even think of a local resource management regime. Yet regulation is not less important. It will simply have to depend more on public organizations, licensing, and cooperation with the agri-service sector. The formulation of such a regulatory framework is now being considered for the Punjab. This will have to be supported by a public awareness campaign, as awareness of the changed groundwater issues among farmers and political decision-makers is very limited, and much of the thinking is dominated by the period when water logging was still the main issue. Without such awareness, enforcement of any regulation will be difficult.

Finally, the price of groundwater needs to be mentioned. In the discussion on water management, it is often proposed that water prices should reflect water scarcity, so as to encourage more prudent water use. The question in Pakistan is how to implement such a pricing system? Most tube wells run on diesel, making it hard to increase the price of diesel without hurting other non-agricultural diesel consumers. On the other hand, the subsidies of electrical supplies to tube wells continue. This is an anomaly that should be corrected. The tragedy of Pakistan is that groundwater is a very precious resource, yet, at the same time, it is a resource that can be exploited at very low cost.

 Studies on depleting ground water resources in the city of Lahore and around suggest that a multifaceted strategy of aquifer recharge needs to be put in place. The elements are: rain water harvesting in the urban areas; construction of a low level weir over the Ravi to store flood water and rain water for aquifer recharge purposes; Lahore expansion to the East should be prohibited and the area be kept free of the urban sprawl, there also need to be ponds established all over the land left free of urban intrusion; a weir on the dried bed of Sutlej should be build to store flood water for aquifer recharge purposes.

The Punjab government is going to kick-off a project for recharge of aquifer for groundwater management in Punjab to develop the economical and sustainable technology and to recharge the aquifer naturally and artificially at the available site across the Punjab. A project with the estimated cost of Rs 582.249 million has been approved to execute this project for four years time period by the Punjab Irrigation Department. The main objective of the scheme is to recharge the groundwater by pounding of flood water in old Mailsi Canal and supplement it by installing suitable recharging mechanism like recharging well as pilot project.