Water

Pilot and Demonstration Activities
Groundwater Aquifer Rejuvenation Demonstration Pilot Project for Balochistan

Pakistan's climate is predominantly desert or near desert, with approximately half of the country receiving less than 250 mm average annual rainfall.

Balochistan Province in the west of Pakistan is no exception. Daytime temperatures during summer can be as high as 40° Celsius even at higher elevations. Humidity is generally low while aridity is high, causing surface water bodies to evaporate rapidly.

Groundwater is the only dependable source to meet the ever-increasing water demands in these areas. But demand for water is far above the available supply.

In the past, groundwater was tapped through the traditional Karez system. This is a system of vertical shafts/wells in the alluvial fans at the foot of the mountains interconnected by a horizontal tunnel that would intercept the water table near the head of the alluvium, and provide a dependable source of water flowing under gravity to lower valley areas, where agriculture is mostly practiced. The advent of electricity in the province in the 60s, and its subsidized provision to the farmers to promote agriculture, heralded the exponential growth of tubewells. The result was the tremendous stress currently faced by groundwater resources.

The efforts of the government to restore groundwater resources have generally focused on engineering solutions—by building delay action recharge dams across some of the streams in the upland areas of Balochistan. Over 160 such dams of varying heights (5 to 20 meters) and lengths were built at a huge investment. The technique is based in the belief that the deep percolation through the beds of the reservoirs created by these dams would aid in water for storage underground.

While the Provincial Irrigation Department claims success, field observations show that the high content of fine clay in the river, brought in during runoff, gets deposited and rapidly seals the beds of the reservoirs, which were created by the delay action dams (DAD) and from where recharge is supposed to occur. Analysis of data indicates that the infiltration rates drop exponentially with each storm that brings in sediments.

One significant feature is that most of the DADs were constructed without any method for release of the stored water to downstream areas. Consequently, the dams now act as mere evaporation ponds with little to no recharge through the beds.

This pilot and demonstration activity (PDA) aims to demonstrate appropriate methods to make the water stored in the DADs be put in the shallow aquifers in the same areas. The larger need is to change the design and construction approach of the Irrigation Department to make any future dam perform as effective recharge structure.

Meanwhile, more boreholes continue to be drilled in the province and the water table continues to drop, causing the traditional Karez systems to dry up and the tubewells to be deepened almost every couple of years. The need to control the situation, at the same time ensure that investments in DADs do not go to waste, is now urgent.

Top

The pilot and demonstration activity (PDA) aims to demonstrate successful technologies for enabling the water stored at existing DADs to be put into shallow aquifers.

Specifically, the PDA will

• Demonstrate appropriate and innovative technologies for making the existing DADs effective in recharging aquifers.
• Disseminate the tested technologies within Balochistan and elsewhere.
• Ensure long-term involvement of user/beneficiary communities in recharge.

Top

Top

• Mid-Term Report (June 2006) [PDF]
• Inception Report (July 2005) [PDF]
• Proposal (May 2005) [PDF]
• Country Water Action: Restoring Community-Based Water Systems to Alleviate Poverty in Southern Baluchistan, Pakistan