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Managing salinity and waterlogging in the Indus Basin of Pakistan

Article  in  Agricultural Water Management · February 2008

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2007.09.014

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 agricultural water management 95 (2008) 1–10

available at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat

Review

Managing salinity and waterlogging in the Indus

Basin of Pakistan

A.S. Qureshi a,*, P.G. McCornick b, M. Qadir b,1, Z. Aslam c

a
International Water Management Institute (IWMI), c/o Iranian Agricultural Engineering Research Institute (IAERI),
P.O. Box 31585-845, Karaj, Iran
b
International Water Management Institute (IWMI), P.O. Box. 2075, Colombo, Sri Lanka
c
Nuclear Institute of Agriculture and Biology, Faisalabad, Pakistan

article info abstract

Article history: Waterlogging and salinization are major impediment to the sustainability of irrigated lands
Received 1 October 2006 and livelihoods of the farmers, especially the smallholders, in the affected areas of the Indus
Accepted 26 September 2007 Basin. These problems are the result of a multitude of factors, including seepage from
Published on line 19 November 2007 unlined earthen canals system, inadequate provision of surface and subsurface drainage,
poor water management practices, insufficient water supplies and use of poor quality
Keywords: groundwater for irrigation. About 6.3 million ha are affected by different levels and types
Pakistan of salinity, out of which nearly half are under irrigated agriculture. Since the early 1960s,
Salt-affected soils several efforts have been made to improve the management of salt-affected and water-
Salinity management logged soils. These include lowering groundwater levels through deep tubewells, leaching of
SCARP salts by excess irrigation, application of chemical amendments (e.g. gypsum, acids, organic
Groundwater quality matter), and the use of biological and physical methods. However, in spite of huge invest-
Saline agriculture ments, the results have in general been disappointing and the problems of waterlogging and
Drainage effluent disposal salinity persist.
Vertical drainage This paper reviews sources, causes and extent of salinity and waterlogging problems in
Horizontal drainage the Indus Basin. Measures taken to overcome these problems over the last four decades are
also discussed. The results reveal that the installed drainage systems were initially success-
ful in lowering groundwater table and reducing salinity in affected areas. However, poor
operation and maintenance of these systems and provision of inadequate facilities for the
disposal of saline drainage effluent resulted in limited overall success. The paper suggests
that to ensure the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the Indus Basin, technical and
financial support is needed and enhanced institutional arrangements including coordina-
tion among different federal and provincial government agencies to resolve inter-provincial
water allocation and water related issues is required.
# 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 261 2716804; fax: +98 261 2716921.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A.S. Qureshi), [email protected] (P.G. McCornick), [email protected] (M. Qadir),
[email protected] (Z. Aslam).
1
Joint appointment with International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syria.
0378-3774/$ – see front matter # 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2007.09.014
2 agricultural water management 95 (2008) 1–10

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Irrigation development in the Indus Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Sources of salts in the Indus Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Extent of saline and waterlogged soils in the Indus Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. Management of salinity and waterlogging through engineering strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5.1. Vertical drainage projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5.2. Horizontal drainage systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6. Future perspectives: Managing the problem—building livelihoods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1. Introduction decline of groundwater table in Baluchistan was up to 2–3 m

per year (Qureshi et al., 2004). As a result, groundwater became
Irrigated agriculture in Pakistan is mainly confined to the inaccessible to small poor farmers as they were not able to
Indus plains where it has been developed by harnessing the deepen their pumps and install large capacity power supplies.
principal water resources available to the country. The According to government estimates, the water table dropped
contiguous Indus basin irrigates an area of about 16 million to depths that were inaccessible in 5 and 15% of the irrigated
ha. Under the Indus water treaty of 1960 the total water areas in the Punjab and Baluchistan provinces, respectively,
available to Pakistan from the Indus River system was during this period (PPSGDP, 2000).
181  109 m3, approximately 75% of the annual available flow Despite improvements in surface water supplies after 2001,
(World Bank, 2005). Of the available water, about 131  109 m3 installation of private tubewells continued and currently
is diverted to the 43 main canal irrigation systems while about 0.8 million small capacity private tubewells are working
11  109 m3 is lost in the river system and 39  109 m3 flow to in Pakistan. It is estimated that investment on the private
the sea (Badruddin, 1996). The total length of the canals, main tubewells is of the order of Rs. 25 billion (US $ 400 million)
canal branches, and distributaries is about 57,000 km. The whereas the annual benefits in the form of agricultural
system has 88,600 outlets for the irrigation of service areas. production are to the tune of Rs. 150 billion (US $ 2.5 billion)
The length of the farm channels and watercourses is about 1.6 (Shah et al., 2003). The estimated number of users is over 2.5
million km (Bhatti and Kijne, 1992). million farmers, who exploit groundwater directly or hire the
Due to arid and semi-arid conditions prevailing in most of services of tubewells from their neighbors. The groundwater is
the Indus Basin, the evapotranspiration demand is high and currently providing more than 50% of the total crop water
rainfall is scanty and sporadic, limiting productive agricultural requirements with the flexibility of its availability as and when
systems within the basin to those areas which can be assured needed (Shah, 2007).
of a reliable water supply. Water use efficiencies within the These tubewells are used for supplying supplemental flows
irrigated areas are generally low, with much of the diverted for irrigation and to provide much of the drinking water for
surface water recharging the underlying aquifers. These losses urban areas. The total groundwater abstraction from these
in the upstream of the system have serious consequences for tubewells is estimated at 45  109 m3 against a recharge of 40–
the delivery of surface water to the farmers located at the end 60  109 m3 (Shah et al., 2003). Out of this, about 33  109 m3 is
of the canal system. However, at the upstream of the system, extracted through private small capacity tubewells, which are
this groundwater has increasingly been exploited to supple- mostly located in fresh groundwater areas to capture fresh
ment the surface water supplies, resulting in an increasingly seepage from irrigation canals. The remaining 12  109 m3 is
higher system and basin level efficiency (Shah, 2007). However extracted by large capacity public tubewells mainly to provide
it should be noted at this point that irrigated agriculture domestic water supplies to urban areas.
productivity remains relatively low (Ahmad et al., 2007). The small capacity shallow tubewells (up to 6 m depth)
Over the last decade, the number of private tubewells in were initially installed by farmers to capture the seepage from
Pakistan has taken a quantum jump mainly because of unlined canals to supplement irrigation supplies for meeting
decreasing surface water supplies and incidences of drought. crop water requirements. Therefore their installation and
During the extreme drought conditions during 1996–2001, the operational costs were very low and farmers were enjoying
surface water availability in Pakistani Punjab was reduced by their benefits without much financial burden. With the
46%. This led to a 59% increase in the number of private increasing groundwater table depth (>15 m), farmers have
tubewells over the same period (Qureshi et al., 2003). Most of to switch from small diesel operated tubewells to high
these tubewells were funded by farmers except few commu- powered electric and diesel engines. Most of the electric
nity tubewells which were installed by NGOs to provide water tubewells were installed in 1970s and 1980s when government
for domestic purposes. However, government provided relief was providing subsidies on the installation costs. Due to
to local farmers by exempting surface water fee for the increasing energy prices, government withdrew subsidies in
drought period. Due to over-pumping during this period, the early 1990s, which resulted in stagnation of the growth of
groundwater table dropped in many areas especially in electric tubewells and increase in diesel engine operated
Baluchistan province which was worst hit by drought. The tubewells. According to recent estimates, only 13% of the total
 agricultural water management 95 (2008) 1–10 3

tubewells are operated by electric motors whereas the rest 85% 15–20% of the land still suffers from salinity and another
are operated by diesel engines of different capacities2 (Qureshi 20–30% is confronted with high groundwater levels, from the
and Akhtar, 2003). Diesel pumps are preferred by farmers over application of surface water. Soil salinity problems are
because of their low installation costs as compare to electric particularly serious in the Sind province where some 70–80%
tubewells. Other advantages of diesel tubewells include timely of the soil is classified as moderately or severely saline
availability of water (no power cuts), suitability for farmers (Smedema, 2000).
having small holdings and fragmented land (due to moveable This paper discusses the causes and extent of salt-affected
diesel engine) and non requirement of any reserved money (no and waterlogged soils in the Indus Basin of Pakistan. It also
tension of monthly bill). reviews the public and private sector interventions made in
The on-demand availability of fresh groundwater has the past for the management of saline and waterlogged soils in
helped the farmers to cope with the vagaries of the surface the Pakistan. The lessons learned and future perspectives of
water supplies and achieve secure and predictable yields. managing salt-affected and waterlogged soils are also the foci
However, one undesirable consequence of intensive use of of this paper.
groundwater has been the development of secondary salini-
zation. As a result, large tracts of irrigated lands are already
salinized and many others are under threat. It is estimated 2. Irrigation development in the Indus Basin
that nearly 4.5 million hectares are already afflicted with this
menace, of which about half are located in irrigated areas About a century ago, Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) was
(WAPDA, 2003). About 30% of this area lies in the Punjab originally designed for an annual cropping intensity (i.e.
province, which produces more than 90% of the country’s total cropped area per year) of 75% with the intention of spreading
food production. Another 1.0 million hectare is affected by water to as large an area as possible to expand the settlement
water logging. Of the salt-affected soils in Pakistan, about 40% opportunities. The major objective of irrigation development
are saline (containing elevated levels of soluble salts) while at that time was to prevent crop failure and avoid famine
60% are saline-sodic and sodic in nature, which are char- (Jurriens and Mollinga, 1996). Another design feature of
acterized by elevated levels of sodium (Na+). These serious IBIS was low management and operational requirements,
environmental problems have become a great challenge to which is an advantage with an inherited disadvantage of
ensure food security for the ever increasing population of inflexibility.
Pakistan. The IBIS typically consists of the main canals from which
Since the early 1960s, numerous efforts have been made to the water is distributed to branch canals. Secondary canals,
cope with the problems of waterlogging and salinity. These called distributaries, take off from the branch canals. The
included lining of watercourses to control seepage losses, distributaries and their branches, called minors are the main
adaptation of improved irrigation practices and the installa- arteries for releasing water to small irrigation areas (averaging
tion of surface and subsurface drainage systems. Most of these 160 ha). The outlets are free draining structures, which have a
projects were funded by government and no investments were capacity fixed in proportion to the service area. Due to
made by farmers. Over the last three decades, considerable variations in the main canal discharges, it becomes difficult to
work has also been done on the reclamation of saline soils achieve equity in water distribution. In times of water
through physical, chemical and biological strategies. Due to its shortage, water has to be rotated between secondary canals,
relatively low price, general availability and easy application, the distributaries and minors.
gypsum (CaSO4
2H2O) is most commonly used for the The operation of the Indus basin irrigation system is based
reclamation of saline-sodic and sodic soils. During 1970s, on a continuous water supply and is not related to actual crop
government introduced subsidy on gypsum to encourage water requirements. Irrigation canals are usually not allocated
farmers for the rehabilitation of affected soils. This scheme more than their design capacity, of which a typical value is
proved very successful however, these efforts could not be about 2 mm d 1. Despite significant increase in storage
converted into a national program. These efforts remain capacities, it is essentially a supply-based system. Hence, it
confined to support on-farm research on salinity and sodicity cannot adequately accommodate changing water demands
management. On the other hand, farmers continue their during the crop season.
efforts to reclaim salt affected lands through improved water Water distribution to farmers is based on a seven day fixed
management, crop choices and cultural practices. However rotational turn called ‘‘warabandi’’. This means that each
these efforts were limited to field scale level and have farmer is allowed to take an entire flow of the outlet once in
generally not been taken up by the wider farming community. seven days and for a period proportional to the size of his land
Despite huge investment, the success has been limited in holding. The amount of water during a turn is usually
solving land degradation issues. The problems of waterlogging insufficient to irrigate the entire farm. Farmers usually
and salinity could not be solved as initially envisaged. About practice either deficit irrigation to irrigate their entire land
or choose to leave a fraction of their land holding un-irrigated.
Due to age and poor maintenance, the delivery efficiency of
2
Mostly private tubewells in Pakistan use 10–24 hp diesel
irrigation system is low, ranging from 35 to 40% from canal
engines as the prime mover. These diesel engines are commonly
head to the crop root zone (Tarar, 1995). In practical terms,
of two types i.e., 12–16 hp Chinese Diesel Pumps locally called as
‘‘Petter Engine’’, probably after the famous brand name of a British therefore, much of the surface water is currently lost en-route,
engine manufacturer of a bygone era and 10–24 hp Slow Speed which has serious implications for downstream farmers
Diesel Engine locally called as ‘‘Black (Kala) Engine’’. located at the end of the canal system.
4 agricultural water management 95 (2008) 1–10

Increasing demand for food to cope with the rising the major irrigated areas of the Sind Province (Qureshi et al.,
population and favorable marketing conditions and support 2004). An estimated 28.2 Mg of salt are annually brought to the
prices from government has helped in increasing annual surface by the extensive tubewell pumping taking place in the
cropping intensities to about 150%. Moreover, many canals Basin. Most of the groundwater contribution is in the Punjab
can no longer convey their official design capacity, due to (24.7 Mg) with a further 3.5 Mg in the Sind Province. As a result,
siltation and erosion of banks. From the scarcity by design and salt accumulation in Sind province is much less than the
intensified irrigation practices by farmers, over time canal Punjab province.
water availability per unit of irrigated land has become even Most of the salts pumped through deep tubewells are fossil
more limited (Sarwar, 2000). salts deposited in the deeper strata and aquifers in the course
of the formation of the Indus Plain. Groundwater overdraft has
also created serious groundwater quality issues even for
3. Sources of salts in the Indus Basin shallow tubewells in many areas. Therefore secondary
salinization associated with the use of poor quality ground-
Most of the soil salinity in the Indus Basin is inherent, as it was water for irrigation has further compounded the soil salinity
developed during the process of soil formation. The salts are problem. Although the salt accumulation in the Sind province
brought in by the rivers and their tributaries. The average is much less than in the Punjab, it needs more efforts to
annual salt inflow by the Indus River and its tributaries is desalinize, dispose off and reclaim saline lands due to high
estimated at 33 Mg. At present only about 27% (9.0 Mg) of the and poor quality groundwater tables and lack of drainage and
average annual salt flow is washed out of the system while disposal facilities. Being close to the sea, several feasible
73% (24.0 Mg) is retained in the Basin, with 13.6 Mg in Punjab options exist. The problems of drainage water disposal are
Province and 10.4 Mg in Sind Province. Of the salt stored much more serious in the Punjab. Presently, most of the saline
annually in the Basin, only 2.2 Mg are deposited in a series of drainage effluent is being reused and then disposed of in the
evaporation ponds located in the desert area outside the evaporation ponds. However, this is not a feasible long-term
irrigated plain in southeast Punjab and the remaining salts solution and in future, more environmentally friendly solu-
(11.4 Mg) accumulate in the soil profiles in the irrigated lands tions need to be sorted out.
and in the underlying strata and aquifer (Nespak/MMI, 1993).
Due to an overall shortage of good-quality water, the use of
poor-quality groundwater as a supplemental source of 4. Extent of saline and waterlogged soils in
irrigation has become routine practice. The large scale the Indus Basin
exploitation of poor groundwater is another substantial
source of salt inflow in the Indus basin, thereby aggravating The introduction of a large scale irrigation network without
the problems of soil and water salinization. Fig. 1 demon- adequate drainage altered the hydrological balance of the
strates the spatial distribution of groundwater quality in the Indus Basin. At the time of construction of the network, the
Indus Basin, which ranges between marginal to hazardous in groundwater table depth in different canal command areas

Fig. 1 – Spatial distribution of composite groundwater quality in the Indus Basin of Pakistan (Qureshi et al., 2004).
 agricultural water management 95 (2008) 1–10 5

Fig. 2 – The rise in the groundwater level after the introduction of canal irrigation in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. The
groundwater profiles are shown for pre-irrigation period, and for the years 1920 and 1960 (Wolters and Bhutta, 1997).

ranged between 20 and 30 m below the soil surface. Therefore problems of soil salinity are more serious in the lower part of
the need for provision of drainage for salt management as a the Indus Basin where about 54% area is saline. The extent of
part of the irrigation system was not envisaged at that time. salinization keeps on changing due to the dynamic nature of
The topography of the Indus Basin is relatively flat and the problem in the Indus Basin. The main reason for higher soil
characterized by a lack of any well-defined natural surface and salinity in the lower part is low rainfall, high evaporation rates,
subsurface drainage. and shallow and saline groundwater.
The continuous expansion of the irrigation system, The problems of land degradation and water quality
blockage of drainage, seepage from unlined earthen canals deterioration in the Indus Basin do not stem from salinity
and percolation from irrigation fields has caused the ground- alone. About 70% of the tubewells installed in the basin to
water table to rise to within 1.5 m of the soil surface in vast supplement surface supplies, are pumping sodic water, which
irrigated areas. This has created waterlogging and, conse- contains high concentrations of Na+, carbonate (CO32 ) and
quently, soil salinity. These problems are more serious in bicarbonate (HCO3 ). Irrigation water with elevated levels of
areas where groundwater is saline. As a typical example, the Na+, CO32 and HCO3 gradually induces sodicity in the soil
rise in the groundwater level after the introduction of the system. Sodic soils are an important category of salt-affected
irrigation system in the Punjab is shown in Fig. 2 (Wolters and soils, exhibiting unique structural problems as a result of
Bhutta, 1997). certain physical processes (slaking, swelling, and dispersion of
The groundwater level in the Indus basin fluctuates clay) and specific conditions (surface crusting and hard
seasonally. In general, groundwater levels are deepest at the setting) (Shainberg and Letey, 1984; Sumner, 1993; Qadir and
end of the dry season (May–June) and shallowest immediately Schubert, 2002). These problems can affect water and air
after the wet season of monsoon rainfall (September). movement, plant-available water holding capacity, root
Estimates show that after the monsoon season, about 4.7 penetration, seedling emergence, runoff and erosion, as well
million ha (30% of the irrigated area) have groundwater levels
within 1.5 m of the soil surface. Prior to the monsoon period,
this area is reduced to about 2 million ha, which is 13% of the
irrigated area (Tarar, 1995). The Punjab Province has about 25%
of its irrigated area severely waterlogged and Sind has about
60% in the same category. Due to the presence of shallow and
saline groundwater, about 40,000 ha are annually abandoned
within the Indus Basin due to secondary salinization (WAPDA,
1989). Fig. 3 shows that about 46% of the irrigated land has
groundwater levels deeper than 3 m and this proportion is not
affected by the season.
According to latest estimates, about 21% of the irrigated
land is affected by varying levels and types of salinity. Of this,
7% is severely affected and 4% is moderately affected by Fig. 3 – Seasonal effects on groundwater depths in the
salinity. Of course, the scale of the problem of salt accumula- Indus Basin of Pakistan. Seasonal changes and rainfall
tion in the root zone is even greater in places where saline greatly impact shallow watertable (<1.5 m) areas, but have
groundwater is used for irrigation. Province-wise distribution little impact in areas with deep watertable (>3 m) (Sarwar,
of salt-affected soils is given in Table 1, which shows that 2000).
6 agricultural water management 95 (2008) 1–10

Table 1 – Province-wise distribution of cultivated area and salt-affected area (WAPDA, 2003)
Provinces

Punjab Sindh NWFP Balochistan Pakistan

Cultivated area (Mha) 12.27 5.65 2.11 1.84 21.87

Salt-affected area (Mha) 1.234 3.04 0.11 0.12 4.50

as tillage and sowing operations (Oster and Jayawardane, about 15,000 km of surface drains have been installed (Afzal,
1998). Salt-affected soils of the Indus Basin are usually 1992). However, none of these measures provided more than a
classified into four categories (Qureshi and Barrett-Lennard, local or temporary relief and the regional problem of water-
1998). The area affected and the characteristics of these four logging and salinity continued to increase in severity.
categories are given in Table 2.
The problems of waterlogging and salinity are not just 5.1. Vertical drainage projects
agricultural problems, but they do affect the social fabric of
Pakistani society. About 75% of the population and about half The first detailed survey of groundwater depth and salinity
of the Gross National Product (GNP) are directly or indirectly was conducted in 1953–1954 with the collaboration of the US
related to the agricultural sector. Together waterlogging and Geological Survey. This survey found that about 4.9 million ha
salinity rob Pakistani farmers of about 25% of their production were affected by severe salinity and 4.6 million ha were
potential for major crops, valued at an estimated cost of covered with salinity patches. This survey formed the basis for
Pakistan Rupee 14 billion (1 US$  58 Pak Rs. in 1999) annually the Salinity Control and Reclamation Projects (SCARPs) and
in lost production (Haider et al., 1999). Waterlogging and the decision to go ahead with vertical drainage by initiating a
salinity have adverse social and economical effects on rural large-scale public tubewell program. As a result, about 14,000
communities causing poor living standards and health tubewells (covering about 2.6 million ha of irrigated land) with
problems for humans and animals. Loss of agricultural an average capacity of 80 l s 1 were installed in fresh
production and limited on-farm income generation activities groundwater areas to control waterlogging and salinity
have forced the local population to migrate to nearby cities to problems through lowering of the groundwater table. The
earn their living. pumped groundwater was discharged into the existing canal
system to increase irrigation supplies at the farm gate. The
total coverage of the SCARP program was 8 million ha with an
5. Management of salinity and waterlogging estimated cost of US$ 2 billion (Badruddin et al., 1999).
through engineering strategies The demonstration of SCARP tubewells led to a prolifera-
tion of private tubewells in the 1970s and 1980s with the
The threat of waterlogging and soil salinity in the Indus Basin capacity of about 28 l s 1. SCARP tubewells managed to lower
was recognized soon after the introduction of large scale groundwater level below 1.5 m in an area of 2 million ha and
irrigation systems. The first observation wells to monitor below 3 m in 4 million ha, thereby alleviating the problem of
the effect of irrigation on the groundwater table depth were waterlogging significantly. It also reduced the salt-affected
installed as early as in 1870. Based on these studies, various soils from 7 million ha to 4.5 million ha (Table 1). The
remedial measures were tried. These measures included additional water supplies made available by the SCARP
closure of canals in the monsoon season, construction of tubewells and the associated lowering of groundwater table
surface drains in waterlogged areas and lowering of full supply resulted in increased cropping intensities in SCARP areas. The
levels of canals (Ahmad and Chaudhry, 1988). As a result, cropping intensities were increased from 80 to 120% in most of

Table 2 – Extent, classification, and characteristics of salt-affected soils in Pakistan (Based on Qureshi and Barrett-
Lennard, 1998)
Soil type Extent (million ha) Characteristics

Slightly saline-sodic 0.7 Slight salinity-sodicity problem, occurring as patches

(about 20% of the area) in cultivated fields. Thus, about
3.5 million ha (0.7/0.2 = 3.5 million ha) of agricultural
land is affected by this problem.
Porous saline-sodic 1.9 Saline-sodic throughout the root zone, but are porous
and pervious to water; loamy to clayey in texture;
respond to both chemical and biological amelioration efforts.
Severely saline-sodic 1.1 Severely saline-sodic with high groundwater levels; dense
and nearly impervious to water.
Soils with sodic tubewell water 2.3 Sodic soils developed from irrigation with sodic tubewell
water containing high concentrations of carbonates (CO32 )
and/or bicarbonates (HCO3 ); about 70% of the tubewells
pump sodic and/or saline-sodic water in the Indus Basin
 agricultural water management 95 (2008) 1–10 7

the SCARP areas (IWASRI, 1998). Although poverty considera- used to calculate the required lateral spacing. The average
tions were not given a high priority in the SCARP projects, drain depths of these three projects range from 1.95 m for
these projects helped in alleviating poverty through reduced East-Khairpur to 2.44 m for the FDP and were mainly selected
waterlogging and salinity and enhanced cropping productivity on the basis of minimum costs (Smedema and Aart, 1992). The
(Qureshi et al., 2003). comparative studies of the above three completed projects
Despite these successes, the operation of SCARP tubewells have shown that all three designs are rather conservative with
became a huge burden for the government due to high high drainage intensities. Discussions with farmers at Mardan
operational and maintenance costs. Poor maintenance over and FDP projects confirmed that in the areas already drained
time resulted in inefficiency and in some cases completely the demand for surface irrigation has increased (Vlotman
closed down the operation of SCARP tubewells. In addition, the et al., 1990). Farmers in these areas blocked the drainage pipes
uncontrolled use of groundwater for irrigation in some areas to control excessive drainage and reduce the demand for
without commensurate adjustment to the SCARP extraction surface irrigation. For all these projects, drainage water from
rates led to excessive lowering of groundwater level and collectors is discharged into a sump and from there water is
intrusion of saline groundwater into freshwater aquifers. This pumped into the nearby surface drains. These horizontal
not only deteriorated the quality of groundwater but also drainage projects also require funds for operation and
increased the pumping cost, some of which would have been maintenance, which was again a burden for irrigation
unnecessary. The normal soils also started showing initial department as farmers were not willing to share the cost.
symptoms of salinization due to the degraded quality of the Smedema (1990) proposed a drainage design discharge of
groundwater. As a result, farmers demanded that SCARP about 2.0 mm d 1 for (semi-) arid conditions. But this criterion
tubewells in the affected areas and, as a result, operation of was not considered suitable for local Pakistani conditions as
SCARP tubewells was restricted in many areas. the situation varied from one location to the next. Therefore it
was realized that there is a need to refine Smedema’s findings
5.2. Horizontal drainage systems for local conditions. Since the completion of the East-Khairpur
drainage project, nine more pipe drainage projects have been
In the middle of 1970s, it was realized that circulating saline designed, of which several have been completed and others
water through vertical drainage only serves to aggravate the are in various stages of completion. Since the design of the first
problem. Therefore, thinking shifted towards horizontal (pipe) drainage project, the value of design drain discharge rate has
drainage systems particularly in saline groundwater areas. gradually reduced from 3.5 mm d 1 at East-Khairpur to
Under Pakistani conditions, the capital costs of horizontal 1.3 mm d 1 at Khushab Project (Fig. 4). Although local
drainage systems are some 10 times more expensive than conditions such as annual rainfall or seepage loss from canals
tubewell systems (roughly US$ 1000 ha 1 compared to US$ influence the drain discharge rates, the general trend towards
100 ha 1) (Bhatti, 1987). Despite these higher costs, the main lower drain discharge rates can be explained by the experience
reasons to introduce horizontal drains in saline groundwater designers have built up over the years who now feel more
areas were based on the assumptions that the drainage water confident to design for lower drain discharge rates (Boers and
volume will be reduced and the quality will improve. Improved Zuberi, 1995). This demonstrates the importance of the 25-
drainage water quality would reduce disposal problems and years of experience in the field of drainage that Pakistan has
increase the possibility of using drainage water for irrigation. now amassed and underscores the need to ensure that the
In Pakistan, subsurface drainage for waterlogging and skills and knowledge be retained and enhanced to address the
salinity control was first introduced in the East-Khairpur waterlogging and salinity challenges in the Indus basin.
project. The project was constructed between 1977 and 1985. One of the major bottlenecks in the successful operation of
After this, pipe drains were installed in the Mardan SCARP drainage projects for salt management has been the safe
project and the Fourth Drainage Project (FDP). At the time of disposal of saline drainage effluent. Only a small amount of
construction of these projects, there was limited experience
with the planning and design of subsurface drainage systems
for the arid and semi-arid conditions of Pakistan. Therefore
these projects were designed by applying the drainage design
criteria as used for humid areas. These criteria are mostly
based on the steady-state equations of Hooghoudt and Ernst
(see Ritzema, 1994), which assume steady-state moisture and
solute fluxes occurring in the unsaturated zone i.e. the design
of drain depth and drain spacing for a priori chosen drain
discharge rate and permissible depth to groundwater table.
The drain discharge rate for the above-mentioned drainage
projects was calculated using simple steady-state water
balance approach. For the East-Khairpur drainage project, a
drain discharge rate of 3.5 mm d 1 was calculated (van Fig. 4 – Drain discharge rates used for different drainage
Someren and Th. Boers, 1978). For the Mardan SCARP project, projects in Pakistan (derived from data of Bhutta et al.,
the design drainage rate was estimated to be 3.2 mm d 1 and 1994). The dotted line represents the value proposed by
for the Fourth Drainage Project (FDP), a value of 2.44 mm d 1 Smedema (1990) for semi-arid regions. FESS represents
was utilized. These estimated drain discharge rates were then Fordwah Eastern Sadiqia South drainage project.
8 agricultural water management 95 (2008) 1–10

saline effluent generated by drainage systems is re-used for population. On top of this, the Indus basin is a closing basin,
irrigation to grow salt tolerant crops and the rest is discharged which means that despite the impression that there is too
into surface drains or adjacent lowland areas. In 1980s, much water in the basin most of it is already being utilized and
Pakistan launched a mega drainage project to alleviate competition from other sectors is likely to increase. Over the
waterlogging and salinity from left side of the Indus River course of the last three decades, the public and private sectors
by discharging highly saline drainage brine to the Arabian Sea. have undertaken major activities to meet the challenges yet
The project was named as Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD). success has remained elusive. A major reason that these
LBOD was completed in 1995 with a total cost of about 636 constraints remaining intractable is that given the scale of
million US dollar. Out of the total cost, 60% was provided by a irrigation development within the Indus it is imperative that
consortium of international donors and the rest 40% comes salinity control and drainage be considered within the context
from government of Pakistan. This project involves the of the basin and the overall salt balance as the discharge from
construction of 1950 km long surface drains, 2000 tubewells, one location affects the next location downstream at all scales,
5000 structures and 2000 km long buried pipes and improve- most notably inter-provincial.
ment in irrigation supplies. LBOD provided drainage to Within the context of the overall basin and the overall salt
516,000 ha saline area (1230 US$ per ha). balance, the salt management issues are very complex and no
LBOD project showed remarkable results in lowering single straight forward solution applies. To sustain and improve
groundwater tables, increasing cropping intensities and crop the productivity of irrigated agriculture, the integration of
yields. Many farmers started returning to their land to grow irrigation and drainage is absolutely necessary because irriga-
crops as water tables were lowered through subsurface tiles tion management and drainage problems are closely inter-
and tubewells and emptied into a drain (World Bank, 1997). linked through: (i) over or inefficient irrigation as a cause of
However, before its full-scale operation, this project was waterlogging and (ii) the relationship between irrigation
criticized for not being environmentally friendly, primarily management and effluent disposal. Minimizing drainage
because of degradation of lands adjacent to the drains due to effluent by improving irrigation efficiency and re-use of
heavy seepage and damages to aquatic life. Moreover, drainage water at the farm level while maintaining the health
operational costs of the drains presented yet another of the soil is an attractive alternative. Where relevant, farmers
reoccurring financial burden on the government, jeopardizing need to have access to the knowledge and inputs for reclaiming
the long-term sustainability of this project. In order to address salt affected lands through physical, chemical, and biological
environmental issues, another major drainage project was approaches. Timely availability of farm inputs such as good-
initiated in 2001 to provide drainage to the saline areas located quality water, salt-tolerant germplasm, and introduction of
on the right side of the Indus River. This project was called as groundwater abstraction regulations and promotion of saline
Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD). The estimated cost of this agriculture through crop diversification options such as salt-
project is 250 million US dollars with a completion time of 4 tolerant medicinal and aromatic plant species can improve the
years. However, completion of this project has been delayed capacity of individual farmers to be productive.
due to administrative and financial constraints. It is hoped The institutional arrangements regarding drainage and
that the completion of this problem will solve the drainage and irrigation management need to be developed to remove the
salinity problems in Sind province. constraints at the farm, system, provincial and basin scales,
Once these projects were envisaged, Sind province objected and to ensure that the various interventions and components
that the drainage water from irrigated lands of Punjab should of the system are integrated as much as practicable. Presently
not pass through Sind on its way to Sea because it would farmers pay for some of the operation and maintenance costs
aggravate the existing salinity problems. As a consequence, of the surface irrigation costs but have so far been unwilling to
Punjab has had to redirect its drainage discharge into the pay for the drainage systems as they view it as a government
natural sand depressions located in south of Punjab. The responsibility. One of the major reasons for this behavior of
expectation was that these depressions serve as natural farmers is that the drainage cots are considerably higher,
evaporation ponds and the disposed water be evaporated due because unlike canals, surface drains are not self maintaining
to extremely high temperatures. However, this did not happen and sub surface drainage involves huge pumping costs. The
as the discharge was much greater than the evaporation rates. Operation, Maintenance and Recovery (OMR) cost of the LBOD
The situation became worse when seepage from these ponds Drainage system in Sind has been estimated to be US$ 43/ha.
started affecting adjacent agricultural lands, and it was then This amount is too big for farmers to pay.
proposed that the ponds be linked to the LBOD and to the sea. As discussed above, the financial resources from the
However, this was the original point of dispute between the Government is not always reliable. While in the short term
two provinces and has yet to be resolved. increased investments from the public sector will be neces-
sary to ensure that the systems are fully operational, such
investments need to be made with the medium term view of
6. Future perspectives: Managing the securing the revenue stream to avoid deterioration again. In
problem—building livelihoods order to encourage participation of farmers in sharing the
costs of operation and maintenance of irrigation and drainage
Despite significant investments, waterlogging and salinity systems, government introduced Water User Associations
remain as major threats to the livelihoods of millions of poor (WUAs) act in 1981–1982 and Provincial Irrigation and
in Pakistan, and to national food security of the country as a Drainage Authorities (PIDAs) act in 1997. Under the PIDAs,
whole which has to produce more food for a growing the operation and maintenance of individual canal system is
 agricultural water management 95 (2008) 1–10 9

to be entrusted to autonomous self-accounting Areas Water Boers, Th.M., Zuberi, F.A., 1995. In: Proceedings of National
Boards (AWBs), which would entrust the O&M of the Workshop on Drainage System Performance in Indus Plains
and Future Strategies, vol. II, 28–29 January, Tandojam,
distributaries, minor and canals to Farmers Organizations
Pakistan, pp. 175–190.
(FOs). Under these arrangements, many Farmers Organiza-
Haider, G., Afzal, M., Prathapar, S.A., Qureshi, A.S., 1999.In:
tions (FOs) and Water Users’ Associations (WUAs) have also Global Water Partnership Workshop on Water for
been formed and some are functioning. The process of Environment in Pakistan, 12 April, Islamabad, Pakistan.
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because integration of existing laws into a single comprehen- Program for Pakistan: Economic, Social and Environmental
Matters. Internal Report 98/5.
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Jurriens, R., Mollinga, P.P., 1996. Scarcity by design: protective
The left and right bank outfall drains (LBOD and RBOD) can irrigation in India and Pakistan. ICID J. 45 (2), 31–53.
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outfall for evacuated salts from existing and future drainage I, Executive Summary. NESPAK and Mott MacDonald,
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better coordination among different federal and provincial Oster, J.D., Jayawardane, N.S., 1998. Agricultural management of
sodic soils. In: Sumner, M.E., Naidu, R. (Eds.), Sodic Soil:
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Indus Basin will remain a challenge. Project (PPSGDP). Technical Report No. 45. Lahore, Pakistan.
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