Groundwater in Pakistan’s Indus Basin : Present and Future Prospects
The objective of this report is to pursue recommendations to address the technical challenges of waterlogging, salinization, and depletion and the institutional responsibility of provincial governments to manage groundwater and assist the government of Pakistan to address groundwater management challenges in the Indus basin by identifying paths to reform and a program of investments. It identifies both natural and anthropogenic factors that affect the temporal and spatial variability in the availability and quality of groundwater across the Indus basin; outlines the risks to many sectors posed by the ongoing failure to adequately measure and manage the resource; provides examples of targeted management interventions drawn from local, regional, and international settings; and proposes institutional reforms and essential management interventions that can be introduced over a span of years, leading to the long-term viability of the resource. This report provides a holistic view of groundwater resources across the Indus basin in Pakistan with a particular focus on Punjab and Sindh.