Water Sharing, Governance, and Management among the Provinces in Pakistan Using Evidence-Based Decision Support System

摘要

Increase in the demand of food and fiber due to a rapid increase in population has imposed heavy stress on the water resource of the world, which has given rise to competition for this resource particularly in those areas where usage has exceeded the limits of availability. With the passage of time, this competition not only intensified but has escalated to the position of conflict, moreover improper management and inequitable distribution has added more stress on the water resources. The Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) Pakistan being the largest contiguous irrigation system is not an exception to twin problem of improper management and inequitable distribution. Water management and distribution in the IBIS are governed by the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) among the India and Pakistan, and via Water Apportionment Accord (WAA) within the provinces in Pakistan. In this paper, we have developed a basin scale decision support system using water evaluation and planning (WEAP) modeling framework to evaluate the water distribution among provinces based on Water Apportionment Accord and suggest the way towards conflict management and mitigation. WEAP model simulates the reservoir (Tarbela, Mangla, and Chashma), rivers, canal, and link canals at the supply nodes; and canal command areas for agriculture and domestic demand nodes. Simulating the water system historically for 23 years from 1991 to 2013, it was observed that every year Sindh has experienced deficiency and cut off from its allocated share. Punjab has also faced deficiency and cut off from an allocated share in every Kharif Season but in a lower proportion, whereas Punjab has extracted excess of its share 11 times in 23 years in Rabi Season.