Irrigation Of Pakistan. Group: 5

What does this big term means?

• Irrigation is an artificial application of water to the Soil.

• It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and for revegetation.

•  Irrigation systems are also used for dust suppressions, disposal of sewage, and in mining.

• Irrigation is often studied together with drainage.

Methods used in Pakistan.

• Lift System.• Karez.• Rod-Kohi Irrigation.• Canals:

i. Inundation Canals.

ii. Perennial Canals.

iii. Non-Perennial Canals.

i. Lift System.

• It is an old system practiced in Pakistan.• Procedure:

Water is lifted by hands in a bucket attached to a rope.

• It involved a considerable labour and, therefore, only a small area could be irrigated.

• 3 types of lift system:

i. Shaduf

ii. Charsa

iii. Tubewell

• Procedure:

i. In this system weight is tied to the other end of the rope.

ii. It consisted of a bucket tied by a rope on the one end of pole.

iii. It helped in pulling the water easily as the weight was placed on the other hand.

iv. Shaduf has been outmoded.

Shaduf!

Charsa!

• Procedure:

i. In this system animal power is used to pull water from the well.

ii. Persian wheel is a continuous water supply system which can irrigate a comparatively wider area.

iii. A number of buckets are lowered into a well through a chain adjusted on a rotating wheel.

iv. The empty buckets go down into the well and then come out with full of water.

Tubewell!

• After independence, the tubewell was introduced.• Sources of water were tapped from a depth of several

hundred meters.• Tubewells became an effective mode of irrigation by

1967-68.• Lift irrigation provides 43 MAF of ground water every

year and second most important

source of water in Pakistan.

ii. Karez.

• It is an earlier method of irrigation.

• It is confined to the province of Balochistan.

• It is used in the valleys of Quetta, Pashin, Mastung and some areas of Mekran.

• This system is also used in Iran with name of Qanat and in adjoining Arab countries as ‘Fogarra’.

• Procedure:

i. It is an underground water tunnel.

ii. It starts from the base of a mountain or hill where sub-soil water is available.

iii. It flows for one or two km underground before emerging on the surface.

iv. There are vertical shifts or ducts meant to repair and keep the Karez clean of siltation so that there is no hindrance in water flow.

v. After coming to the surface the Karez irrigates the orchards and agricultural fields.

vi. Karez irrigation is gradually fading away.

vii. Due to the tubewells some of the Karez have become dry.

iii. Rod-Kohi Irrigation

• It is runoff irrigation system being practiced in Pakistan.

• Procedure: i. In this system hill torrent is directed through a

network of conveying system to provide deep watering of 1-1.5 m depth to bunded large field of 2-4 hectares (ha) or more.

• Traditional flood or spate irrigation schemes have been constructed and operated in Pakistan by farming communities for hundreds of years.

• In Balochistan, NWFP and western Punjab such scheme account for significant production of irrigated land.

• The total area covered under these flood/spate irrigation is around 2.0 million hectares (mha). It constitutes 10 per cent of the area irrigated by canals in Pakistan.

• In Balochistan flood irrigation is known as ‘sailaba’ irrigation. Whilst in D.G. Khan in the Punjab and D.I Khan in NWFP, where very large flood emanate from the eastern side of Suleiman range, such irrigation is known as Rod-Kohi irrigation system.

• Flood irrigation is a risky business for farmers……..

• ….it is because water availability depends on the occurrence and distribution of rainfall and hydrology of the runoff based on the watershed characteristics.

• The reliability, adequacy and prediction of the hill-torrents are the major issues of these areas.

• The farming is practiced under condition of flood and droughts (too much or too little of water).

• During flood the excess water not only damages the crops but also affects the infrastructure.

• The uncertain hill-torrents water cause floods or prolonged drought.

iv. Canals• Canals are the most popular means of irrigation.• Canals perform there functions including the

distribution of flood water, linking of eastern and western rivers and permanent supply of water for irrigation.

• The canal irrigation is carried out with the help of dams and barrages.

• A small dam is made across narrow

and shallow streams and stored

water is used for irrigation.

• The next step is digging of long canals taken off from the large rivers.

• The canals receive water when the water level is raised by flood. They are called as inundation canals.

• The canals taken off from the rivers and barrages supply water throughout the year and are known as perennial canals.

• The irrigation canals are of following types:

i. Inundation Canals.

ii. Perennial Canals.

iii. Non-Perennial Canals.

i. Inundation Canals.

• The inundation canals came in use in the time of Feroz Shah Tughlak who dug inundation canals in India for irrigation and colonization.

• They were laid out in Pakistan up to middle of 19th Century.

• These canals were seasonal and supplied water only in summer when the donor rivers were in floods.

• They were thus beneficial for Kharif Crops.• These canals can only irrigate the flood plains where

the land is sufficiently level and slopes downward from the river bank.

• Some inundation canals were taken off from the upper Indus, Jehlum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej.

Inundation canals

ii. Perennial Canals.

• These are the canals that flows through out the year.• Most of the canals in Pakistan are perennial canals.• They are useful for both Kharif and Rabi Crops.• Perennial canals need dams and barrages for storage

of water.• These canals are found in Sindh,

Punjab and some parts of

NWFP.

iii. Non-Perennial Canals.

• Non-perennial canals run only during the summer season and the rainy season.

• As in rainy season rivers are fed by heavy rains and melting of ice and glaciers on the Northern mountains.

• They close down in winter when there is not enough water in river.

What do you see in this picture?

? ?

?

??

??

?

Some of the dams throughout Pakistan.

• Warsak Dam • Khanpur Dam • Tarbela Dam • Mangla Dam

 

Warsak Dam.

• Location: Warsak Hydro Electric Power Project is located on River Kabul at about 30 km from Peshawar in North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan.

Built in: 2003Power Generation: 1,450MW

Khanpur Dam.

• Location: On the Haro River near the town of Khanpur (NWFP), about 25 miles (40 km) from Islamabad.Built in: 1983

Tarbela Dam.

• Location: It is located in Haripur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, about 50 kilometers (31 mi) northwest of Islamabad.

Built in:1974. 

Mangla Dam.

• Location: About 100 miles (160 km) South-East of the Pakistani capital Islamabad, in Mirpur district of Azad Kashmir. World's 3rd Largest Earth-Filled Dam (Largest at the time of inception). 12th Largest Overall Dam in the World. Pakistan's Premier Major Dam.Built in: 1967 (1962-1967)

I hope your note pads are full with facts and figures!

Group members:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Alishah

Saqib

Murtaza

Farhan

Karim

Mehmood