As rivers and taps run dry, trouble is brewing over hydroelectric projects India is building along the Chenab River that Pakistan says will impact its water supply.
For nearly 10 days now, there has been an acute water shortage in Shimla. On Thursday, almost a 100 protesters blocked the Shimla-Kalka national highway. Experts weigh in.
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Pakistan is not only financially stressed, militarily stressed, but a dangerous water shortage is on the horizon. Inside five years, there likely is either rationed drinking water or agriculture will receive lesser water resulting in lower food production.
Pakistani Punjab has four rivers crisis-crossing its land mass. Monsoon rains are in abundance, except during El-Nino year. Also rivers are fed by glaciers melt, hence water has been all year around and in abundance. That had been true for the last many millennia. Now comes the human intervention of the last 60 years – the Global Warming is affecting the Monsoon pattern, like this year these are erratic but still in abundance. The Global Warming is also melting away the glaciers which feed the rivers. Initially the flow increased, but as the glaciers melt away the water flow has decreased, as much as 50%. These two are the half the problems which Pakistan is facing. The others are the inefficient use of water and design of canals which irrigate the grain fields.
These canals were built by the British in the late eighteen hundreds. They found the excellent top soil and flat topography to build canals. These canals were built from west to east, hence the water of the Jhelum River will irrigate land to the east right up to Chenab River and the water of Chenab will irrigate land to the east all the way to Ravi River etc. There was a deliberate scheme in the British mind. They did not wish to hand over control of River and canal water to the local governments. They wished people to the east be dependent on water immediately to the west, least one day the locals grab the water as well as canals, the rivers and declare themselves independent. The British kept the capability to turn off the water flow from the river immediately to the west. Had it been the other way around then at any given time they could have faced a nearly independent farm economy and a state. Water flow kept the control in their hands.
These canals were built with 1800s technology, hence were not lined letting more than half the water to seepage during its flow to the farms. Since water was in abundance, nobody thought about the seepage issue at all, even after the British left. Today 85% of available water in Pakistani Punjab is used for agriculture, of which 55% is lost in seepage. Remaining 15% is used for domestic, industrial and construction purposes.
Since after the signing of Indus Water Treaty in the early sixties, Pakistan was allowed to build storage capacities to store excess water for the dry season. This they did not do, as much of the cash was spent on military and other useless ventures like intervention in Afghanistan, hence capability to store surplus water was ignored. This was not a serious issue until global warming melted away the glaciers which were feeding the rivers, hence the river water flow declined to half to what it was in early to mid nineteen hundreds.
Now the water scarcity problems of today.
In fact, Pakistan has no abundant water storage capacity, except two large dams. Also, it has the most inefficient canal systems feeding the agricultural land and bad….. bad management for the available water. Rising population has put a huge pressure on domestic use water. If it was one season or two due to the failure of rains, it is understandable. But it is not, if it is bad management.
Compared to that Indian Punjab have newly built dams, canals (all partially lined to prevent seepage) and can store water for 100 days as opposed to just 15 days in Pakistani Punjab. …… what a contrast. Before partition, the Pakistani Punjab was twice more prosperous than Indian Punjab. Now it is the other way around. Monsoon vagaries affect both Punjab the same way, hence other than bad management, there is no other reason for the decline of Pakistani Punjab.
What can be done?
That excessive emphasis on Military in Pakistan has to stop. Even if the World Bank or India or China extend their helping hand to fix the problem, that hidden hand of the Pakistani military to grab the money will have to be removed, rather the military has to be confined to the barracks. The economy will have to play a dominant role with civilian authority in charge. They should copy the Indian model to build dams on the rivers for water storage and power generation. India has built or building three dams on River Chenab to store water and generate power. Pakistan has none in 800km run of the river thru Pakistani Punjab. Their focus is about picking up a fight on water issues with negative results and themselves do nothing.
Time is fast passing and thirsty and hungry people will be running around in search of food and water and create another refugee problem for somebody else to come and fix it. Hence, begin now or wait for the people to swallow you in a revolution. The key is to begin with downsizing the military and remove them power. Make Kashmir as a non issue and learn from India. In five years time, India will be $5 trillion economy. Pakistan will be stuck at the low end on the economic scale.
God bless the people of Pakistan and help them remove military from the power equation.
Real journalism. Well researched. The world needs to know this. Immediate next steps could be doing R&D on better methods to filter and purify water. One example is point of use purification rather than bottled water. Such technologies tend to be ineffective toys. However, the science and tools exist so that really good, cost effective, and safe devices could be developed, with reasonable effort.
Very well written ,an eye opening and honest assessment, It’s time to forget Kashmir and think about the future and human race survival,Stop developing weapons, pay attention to basic human needs. Its a shame that in both countries the poor are suffering, in both countries, the poor needs water, toilets , Education and all other basic human needs.
Upcoming Water Crisis in Pakistan
Pakistan is not only financially stressed, militarily stressed, but a dangerous water shortage is on the horizon. Inside five years, there likely is either rationed drinking water or agriculture will receive lesser water resulting in lower food production.
Pakistani Punjab has four rivers crisis-crossing its land mass. Monsoon rains are in abundance, except during El-Nino year. Also rivers are fed by glaciers melt, hence water has been all year around and in abundance. That had been true for the last many millennia. Now comes the human intervention of the last 60 years – the Global Warming is affecting the Monsoon pattern, like this year these are erratic but still in abundance. The Global Warming is also melting away the glaciers which feed the rivers. Initially the flow increased, but as the glaciers melt away the water flow has decreased, as much as 50%. These two are the half the problems which Pakistan is facing. The others are the inefficient use of water and design of canals which irrigate the grain fields.
These canals were built by the British in the late eighteen hundreds. They found the excellent top soil and flat topography to build canals. These canals were built from west to east, hence the water of the Jhelum River will irrigate land to the east right up to Chenab River and the water of Chenab will irrigate land to the east all the way to Ravi River etc. There was a deliberate scheme in the British mind. They did not wish to hand over control of River and canal water to the local governments. They wished people to the east be dependent on water immediately to the west, least one day the locals grab the water as well as canals, the rivers and declare themselves independent. The British kept the capability to turn off the water flow from the river immediately to the west. Had it been the other way around then at any given time they could have faced a nearly independent farm economy and a state. Water flow kept the control in their hands.
These canals were built with 1800s technology, hence were not lined letting more than half the water to seepage during its flow to the farms. Since water was in abundance, nobody thought about the seepage issue at all, even after the British left. Today 85% of available water in Pakistani Punjab is used for agriculture, of which 55% is lost in seepage. Remaining 15% is used for domestic, industrial and construction purposes.
Since after the signing of Indus Water Treaty in the early sixties, Pakistan was allowed to build storage capacities to store excess water for the dry season. This they did not do, as much of the cash was spent on military and other useless ventures like intervention in Afghanistan, hence capability to store surplus water was ignored. This was not a serious issue until global warming melted away the glaciers which were feeding the rivers, hence the river water flow declined to half to what it was in early to mid nineteen hundreds.
Now the water scarcity problems of today.
In fact, Pakistan has no abundant water storage capacity, except two large dams. Also, it has the most inefficient canal systems feeding the agricultural land and bad….. bad management for the available water. Rising population has put a huge pressure on domestic use water. If it was one season or two due to the failure of rains, it is understandable. But it is not, if it is bad management.
Compared to that Indian Punjab have newly built dams, canals (all partially lined to prevent seepage) and can store water for 100 days as opposed to just 15 days in Pakistani Punjab. …… what a contrast. Before partition, the Pakistani Punjab was twice more prosperous than Indian Punjab. Now it is the other way around. Monsoon vagaries affect both Punjab the same way, hence other than bad management, there is no other reason for the decline of Pakistani Punjab.
What can be done?
That excessive emphasis on Military in Pakistan has to stop. Even if the World Bank or India or China extend their helping hand to fix the problem, that hidden hand of the Pakistani military to grab the money will have to be removed, rather the military has to be confined to the barracks. The economy will have to play a dominant role with civilian authority in charge. They should copy the Indian model to build dams on the rivers for water storage and power generation. India has built or building three dams on River Chenab to store water and generate power. Pakistan has none in 800km run of the river thru Pakistani Punjab. Their focus is about picking up a fight on water issues with negative results and themselves do nothing.
Time is fast passing and thirsty and hungry people will be running around in search of food and water and create another refugee problem for somebody else to come and fix it. Hence, begin now or wait for the people to swallow you in a revolution. The key is to begin with downsizing the military and remove them power. Make Kashmir as a non issue and learn from India. In five years time, India will be $5 trillion economy. Pakistan will be stuck at the low end on the economic scale.
God bless the people of Pakistan and help them remove military from the power equation.
Real journalism. Well researched. The world needs to know this. Immediate next steps could be doing R&D on better methods to filter and purify water. One example is point of use purification rather than bottled water. Such technologies tend to be ineffective toys. However, the science and tools exist so that really good, cost effective, and safe devices could be developed, with reasonable effort.
Very well written ,an eye opening and honest assessment, It’s time to forget Kashmir and think about the future and human race survival,Stop developing weapons, pay attention to basic human needs. Its a shame that in both countries the poor are suffering, in both countries, the poor needs water, toilets , Education and all other basic human needs.