Water Pricing and Implementation Strategies for the Sustainability of an Irrigation System: A Case Study within the Command Area of the Rakh Branch Canal

Qamar, Muhammad Uzair; Azmat, Muhammad; Abbas, Azhar; Usman, Muhammad; Shahid, Muhammad Adnan; Khan, Zahid Mahmood

doi:10.3390/w10040509

Cited by 15 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Part of this problem might be arising from the very low surface water prices in Pakistan, which do not promote changing towards more efficient, but costly irrigation technologies. Qamar et al 39 studied the implication strategies of IIT in the Indus basin of Pakistan and concluded that the surface water prices should be higher to promote IIT among farmers. We recommend that a comprehensive analysis should be conducted to study the adoption strategies of IIT by changing the water prices.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic and environmental impact assessment of sustainable future irrigation practices in the Indus Basin of Pakistan

Muzammil

Zahid

2021

Sci Rep

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Pakistan’s agriculture is characterized by insecure water supply and poor irrigation practices. We investigate the economic and environmental feasibility of alternative improved irrigation technologies (IIT) by estimating the site-specific irrigation costs, groundwater anomalies, and CO2 emissions. IIT consider different energy sources including solar power in combination with changes in the irrigation method. The status quo irrigation costs are estimated to 1301 million US$ year−1, its groundwater depletion to 6.3 mm year−1 and CO2 emissions to 4.12 million t year−1, of which 96% originate from energy consumption and 4% via bicarbonate extraction from groundwater. Irrigation costs of IIT increase with all energy sources compared to the status quo, which is mainly based on diesel engine. This is because of additional variable and fixed costs for system’s operation. Of these, subsidized electricity induces lowest costs for farmers with 63% extra costs followed by solar energy with 77%. However, groundwater depletion can even be reversed with 35% rise in groundwater levels via IIT. Solar powered irrigation can break down CO2 emissions by 81% whilst other energy sources boost emissions by up to 410%. Results suggest that there is an extremely opposing development between economic and ecological preferences, requiring stakeholders to negotiate viable trade-offs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic and environmental impact assessment of sustainable future irrigation practices in the Indus Basin of Pakistan

Muzammil

Zahid

2021

Sci Rep

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“…All of these three cash crops are water intensive. Among these three, sugarcane is the most water-intensive crop [54]. It consumes 1.6 times more water than rice, 2.7 times more water than cotton, and almost 6.8 times more water than wheat.…”

Section: Large-water-footprint Cropsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Engineering Perspective of Water Sharing Issues in Pakistan

Tariq

Giesen

Janjua

et al. 2020

Water

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Water sharing within the states/provinces of a country and cross-border is unavoidable. Conflicts between the sharing entities might turn more severe due to additional dependency on water, growing population, and reduced availability as a result of climate change at many locations. Pakistan, being an agricultural country, is severely water stressed and heading toward a worsening situation in the near future. Pakistan is heading toward water scarcity as water availability in the Indus basin is becoming critical. Being a downstream riparian of India and Afghanistan in the Indus basin, water availability depends on the releases of water from both countries. The Indus Water Treaty is governing the water distribution rights between India and Pakistan. However, there exists no proper agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan and the construction of new dams on the Kabul River is another threat to water availability to Pakistan. Correct implementation of the Indus Water Treaty with India is required, together with an effective agreement with Afghanistan about the water sharing. In addition to water shortage, poor management of water resources, inequitable sharing of water, lack of a systematic approach, old-fashioned irrigation practices, and growing agricultural products with large water footprints are all exacerbating the problem. The water shortage is now increasingly countered by the use of groundwater. This sudden high extraction of groundwater is causing depletion of the groundwater table and groundwater quality issues. This water shortage is exacerbating the provincial conflicts over water, such as those between Punjab and Sindh provinces. At one end, a uniform nationwide water allocation policy is required. At the same time, modern irrigation techniques and low-water-footprint agricultural products should be promoted. A fair water-pricing mechanism of surface water and groundwater could be an effective measure, whereas a strict policy on groundwater usage is equally important. Political will and determination to address the water issues are required. The solutions must be based on transparency and equity, by using engineering approaches, combined with comprehensive social support. To develop a comprehensive water strategy, a dedicated technopolitical institute to strengthen the capabilities of nationwide expertise and address the issues on a regular basis is required to overcome the complex and multidimensional water-related problems of the country.

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“…This wastewater contaminates the fresh groundwater resources when it filters into aquifers. Moreover, there is no proper water pricing policy, as it (water) is mostly taken as a free infinite good (Qamar et al, 2018). Broadly, Pakistan misses effective use of policy and regulatory instruments to improve water-climate governance, which then impacts institutional performance.…”

Section: Climate-water Governance Gapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Every year, the government disbursed 44 million US dollars as a subsidy for the maintenance of widespread irrigation infrastructure (Young et al, 2019). Ideally, the water system (irrigation or urban supply) should be financially sustainable to generate at least the entire or a major portion of the maintenance cost, which is not the case in Pakistan (Qamar et al, 2018). In general, infrastructure and technology-related water sector issues significantly affect the service delivery, and in turn, governance in Pakistan.…”

Section: Corrected Proofmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, given the complexity of climate-water issues, the policy frameworks need to consider structural vulnerabilities through building societal, political, economic, institutional or regional collaborations for improving governance rather than just targeting general (mostly infrastructure and technology) development strategies. Moreover, the policymaking process needs to embark upon robust regulatory and legal frameworks, implementation strategies, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanism, with clear roles and responsibilities of governing institutions for sustainable management of climate-water resources, in particular, for groundwater regulation, water pricing, irrigation and municipal water service delivery and local climate adaptation (Qureshi et al, 2010;Qamar et al, 2018;World Bank, 2018;Memon et al, 2019;Young et al, 2019). More specifically, the existing NWP and NCCP require a comprehensive and cohesive implementation framework by underlining concrete actions, institutional arrangements, and M&E mechanism to implement envisaged activities tracked through a robust accountable framework (Mumtaz, 2018;Young et al, 2019).…”

Section: Corrected Proofmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate-water governance: a systematic analysis of the water sector resilience and adaptation to combat climate change in Pakistan

2020

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Climate change and water security have become the most challenging global issues of this era, especially for developing countries like Pakistan. Amid many hindrances, poor governance has been identified as one of the most pressing reasons for ineffective action to tackle multifaceted and integrative climate-water issues in Pakistan. This article, therefore, applied a systematic literature review methodology to examine the current climate-water governance archetype, including key areas, major elements, critical gaps, and potential strategy in Pakistan. This study found that key climate-water governance areas in Pakistan are: river basin and watershed management, agriculture and irrigation management, urban and domestic water issues, floods, droughts and disaster management, groundwater management, and transboundary management. Moreover, it is revealed that the major governance elements are political commitment and leadership, policy formulation and regulation, institutional capacity and coordination, stakeholder engagement, and resource management, technology, and infrastructure development. The article also discusses how Pakistan has not effectively employed most of the identified governance elements to tackle its climate-water problems, lacking mostly in political, policy, institutional, coordination, and infrastructure aspects. In conclusion, a four-dimensional governance strategy, encompassing leadership, policy, institutions, and stakeholders is proposed to improve water sector resilience and adaptation to combat climate change in Pakistan.

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Water Pricing and Implementation Strategies for the Sustainability of an Irrigation System: A Case Study within the Command Area of the Rakh Branch Canal

Cited by 15 publications

References 31 publications

Economic and environmental impact assessment of sustainable future irrigation practices in the Indus Basin of Pakistan

Economic and environmental impact assessment of sustainable future irrigation practices in the Indus Basin of Pakistan

An Engineering Perspective of Water Sharing Issues in Pakistan

Climate-water governance: a systematic analysis of the water sector resilience and adaptation to combat climate change in Pakistan

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