Pakistan is a water stressed country and recent reports have alerted that the country could reach absolute water scarcity by the year 2025.
Reports have also stressed upon the need for a groundwater regulatory framework in the country that will guarantee a sustainable and equitable use of groundwater resource.
According to Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), over 60 percent of Pakistan’s irrigation water requirements are met from groundwater sources which also provide over 90 percent of the country’s potable water.
In most areas of Sindh, groundwater needs to be mixed with canal water before it can be effectively utilised for agricultural purposes.
According to the report, increasing variability of monsoon rains, rapid melting of glaciers and prolonged droughts are threatening the natural recharge of the Indus aquifer through surface water.
In March this year, National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change was informed that the groundwater table in every city of Pakistan was falling by one meter every year.
“Consequently, the cost of irrigation is 2.19 times higher at the tail end of the Indus River basin, compared to the northern Indus River basin,” PCRWR report states.
“There are two major issues in terms of ground water: quality and irresponsible extraction.
The extraction is being done for industrial, agriculture and domestic purposes.
“In two third of Sindh there is no groundwater.