Irrigation water availability , issues and their remedies
Problems and issues of Irrigation system in Pakistan Many factors are involved which hinders the effectiveness of irrigation system. Sustainable usage of the irrigation system is of vital importance for the survival of Pakistan as Pakistan is already been declared as water stressed country. Interior periphery of Sindh, Baluchistan and southern Punjab there are clear drought and nearly zero crop production. As the infrastructure for the irrigation system and water management is same so both terms will be used interchangeably. Here the problems of irrigation will be discussed as per category. Financial issues Water economy is a term used in the Pakistan agriculture as the crops are highly dependent on water and for the development and proper functionality of this prodigious system, maintenance of existing infrastructure and new construction is undoubtedly the need of the hour. In Pakistan capital cost for the development of irrigation system is recovered from the user. Operation and maintenance charged are linked to the water charges collected by the provincial governments but due to the incompetence and malpractices of the government institutions they are not enough for what is required. The short fall in funds is above 30% for each province. [unique_solution]Provincial governments and federal institutions are also responsible for the operational and maintenance. Improvement and upgradation Indus basin system in now facing wear and tear issues as it was built 100 years ago and its functionality is almost reduced to 50 %. Major chunk of water is wasted due to the poor maintenance and theft. This wastage of water is multiply the salinity and waterlogging issues. Siltation problem has reduced the storage capacity of the major dams in Pakistan and raising projects are underway but still we need one major Dam after every 5 years to cope with the always increasing demand of water. There are two major dams in Pakistan: 1) Mangle and 2) Terbia. These dams have lost 28% of the storage capacity and in almost every season they touch the dead level so often. Given the glimpse of the problems regarding storage in the major water storage facilities there is a state of emergency one must think of. Keeping in view the future demand there is no solution but to build new and improve the available water courses to get rid of this water nightmare. Improving this complex and well established irrigation system is not the child’s play and requires keen fastidious brains to deal this with modern and innovative ways. Natural disasters such as floods and earth quakes have also damaged this system a lot and still continuing to do so and we can’t control earth quakes but floods can be easily managed which not only serve a deterrence against the floods but will provide additional water storage. Rehabilitation of many barrages and water courses is underway but at snail’s pace and financial liability fir the irrigation department. Salinity and water logging Issues Since independence irrigation system has helped a lot in agriculture and we have increased the cultivable land coupled with increasing production of crops but created problems as well. Issues such as water logging ad salinity are too often and everywhere, and cultivable land is shrinking at a faster pace. The major reason for this is poor drainage and management of canals and storage facilities. Nature of oil and flat topography contributed a lot. In some areas lands are fallow, because of this issue and can be converted to productive lands but concern problem are not paying due heed to the issue. Canal lining is one solution to stop the seepage from the canals as most waterlogged land is near to such canals which are not lined properly. Lined with which substance is a whole different debate and out of the scope of our work. Some steps have been taken deal with issue but aren’t modern and enough. Inequitable distribution also plays part in this problem. Due to the scares availability of fresh water poor quality water is used which resultantly increase the salinity. Salinity alone has affected the 25% of the production of crops. Water logging salinity Low Literacy rate and access to information: Aged farmers who are in the field of agriculture for several decades are reluctant to adopt new technologies and methods of irrigation. Also their education level is huge barrier to use digital equipment’s to improve yield. In interior Sind province apart from the above mentioned problems farmers also have no access to modern technologies. Low delivery efficiency and inequitable distribution Losses are immense in delivery system irrigation system. At the tail end there is always a complaint about the non-availability of due share. Poor maintenance, corruption and aging are substantial reasons for this menace. System is running well below its capacity and economy is suffering in terms of reduced profit, share in food production and cultivable land. Some areas lack drainage and that too are inefficiency. Pakistan is already water stressed country but in some areas ground water table is quite high in which farmers use tube wells to use water for crops but this is not the sustainable solution and robbing the waters from others. At the government level man methods have been devised for the equal distribution of system among the provinces but that to be being politicized for the petty interest of politicians. The indifference from the concerning people is exacerbating the severity of this issue and which will be very poisonous for the federal autonomy of Pakistan. From the discussion this looks just apolitical debate but people with insight about this, consider this as top priority issue. Being a democratic country (not in a true sense but still it has that system of government) political issues influence all the sectors and core issues from the construction of new facilities to the rehabilitation of existing ones. Some of the solutions to theft and unequal distribution of water mentioned above are digital monitoring systems, implementation of ‘rule of law’ to every individual and accountable committee for irrigation department.