Now, as in other areas of the world, population growth, economic development, rapid urbanization and industrialization are applying significant pressures on the water resources of Pakistan and it is becoming a country with water scarcity.
To address the water scarcity issue, an effective balance is required to be created between developing new resources and managing the demand.
The large rain-fed area of Pakistan, covering some million hectares remains largely under developed, although considerable investment has been made in mini-dams and other forms of water harvesting infrastructure.
Countries Irrigated area in million hectare Percentage cultivated area Irrigated area food production as percentage of total India (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 50.1 35 60 China 49.8 47 70 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
In addition, water logging and salinity are affecting about one-third of over 16 million hectares (ha) of irrigated lands that supply more than 90 percent of Pakistan’s total agriculture produce.
The quality of surface water and groundwater resources is deteriorating with pollution load caused by chemical intensification in agriculture, urbanization, and industrialization
Under this Act, the governments of each province will replace the existing administrative set up of PIDs by establishing Provincial Irrigation and Drainage Authorities (PIDAs), and under PIDAs creation of Area WaterBoards (AWBs) and Farmers’ Organizations (FOs).
8 Establishment of Provincial Irrigation and Drainage Authorities (PIDAs) Irrigation and Drainage Authorities have been established under the PIDA Act, 1997 in all the provinces for streamlining the irrigation and drainage system, commonly known as PIDA in Punjab, SIDA in Sindh, FIDA in NWFP and BIDA in Balochistan.
The Agriculture Department is represented in the AWB of all provinces except Punjab, like PIDA.
There is a government’s representative in all AWBs.