Publication: Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin: Present and Future Prospects
Date
2021-01
ISSN
Published
2021-01
Author(s)
Lytton, Lucy
Ali, Akthar
Garthwaite, Bill
Punthakey, Jehangir F.
Saeed, Basharat
Abstract
Groundwater is arguably the most poorly
understood water resource in Pakistan a country in which
matters of water resources are hotly debated on a regular
basis. Groundwater has the potential to be the most reliable
water resource for Pakistan, providing a buffer against the
unpredictability of climate change and the failure of
infrastructure designed to deliver surface water. The Indus
basin groundwater aquifer in Pakistan holds in storage at
least eighty times the volume of fresh water held in the
country’s three biggest dams. In the 1960s, large-scale
extraction from this underground storage began and has
expanded to become an essential input to agriculture and the
backbone of domestic water provision. Yet in 2020, Pakistan
is on the brink of a lengthy and severe groundwater crisis.
Pakistan lacks a comprehensive, reliable system for
measuring groundwater extractions and their impact on the
resource base. In the face of rising population, the effects
of climate change, and the considerable natural lag in
groundwater response to management interventions, the
failure to tackle these challenges is already impairing
national water security and drinking water quality. It was
concluded that the lack of good-quality, long-term
groundwater data in Pakistan’s Indus basin greatly
complicates the task of numerical modeling and reduces the
reliability of the results.
Citation
“Lytton, Lucy; Ali, Akthar; Garthwaite, Bill; Punthakey, Jehangir F.; Saeed, Basharat. 2021. Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin : Present and Future Prospects. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/35065 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”