Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin : Present and Future Prospects
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, pro...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/501941611237298661/Groundwater-in-Pakistan-s-Indus-Basin-Present-and-Future-Prospects http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35065 |
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okr-10986-350652021-04-24T05:11:12Z Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin : Present and Future Prospects Lytton, Lucy Ali, Akthar Garthwaite, Bill Punthakey, Jehangir F. Saeed, Basharat GROUNDWATER RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT MUNICIPAL WATER INDUSTRIAL WATER USE RAINFALL SALINITY WATER LEVEL GROUNDWATER QUALITY WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INDUS RIVER VALLEY 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. 2021-01-27T19:52:31Z 2021-01-27T19:52:31Z 2021-01 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/501941611237298661/Groundwater-in-Pakistan-s-Indus-Basin-Present-and-Future-Prospects http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35065 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper South Asia Pakistan |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
GROUNDWATER RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT MUNICIPAL WATER INDUSTRIAL WATER USE RAINFALL SALINITY WATER LEVEL GROUNDWATER QUALITY WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INDUS RIVER VALLEY |
| spellingShingle |
GROUNDWATER RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT MUNICIPAL WATER INDUSTRIAL WATER USE RAINFALL SALINITY WATER LEVEL GROUNDWATER QUALITY WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INDUS RIVER VALLEY Lytton, Lucy Ali, Akthar Garthwaite, Bill Punthakey, Jehangir F. Saeed, Basharat Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin : Present and Future Prospects |
| geographic_facet |
South Asia Pakistan |
| description |
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. |
| format |
Report |
| author |
Lytton, Lucy Ali, Akthar Garthwaite, Bill Punthakey, Jehangir F. Saeed, Basharat |
| author_facet |
Lytton, Lucy Ali, Akthar Garthwaite, Bill Punthakey, Jehangir F. Saeed, Basharat |
| author_sort |
Lytton, Lucy |
| title |
Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin : Present and Future Prospects |
| title_short |
Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin : Present and Future Prospects |
| title_full |
Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin : Present and Future Prospects |
| title_fullStr |
Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin : Present and Future Prospects |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin : Present and Future Prospects |
| title_sort |
groundwater in pakistan’s indus basin : present and future prospects |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/501941611237298661/Groundwater-in-Pakistan-s-Indus-Basin-Present-and-Future-Prospects http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35065 |
| _version_ |
1764482246081773568 |