MULTAN City News

Punjab faces 30maf water losses
Govt offers farmers plan to improve irrigation system
From Nadeem Shah
MULTAN: Punjab has been contributing major share to wheat and cash crop cotton production but, at the same time, facing serious water losses as 41pc canal water is wasted in the distribution process, right from rivers to canals, and from watercourses to fields mainly because of lack of planning, it has been learnt technically.
Water experts say the available water for irrigation in Punjab is 89 million acre-feet (maf) including 56maf, from its share according to the Water Accord 1991. Farmers receive 33maf from groundwater for agriculture. At least 30maf (41pc) water is wasted in the process of canal diversion, leaving only 59maf from both sources of water for irrigation, experts says.
However, farmers themselves conserve water drawn from underground through their better management and distribution systems. “When we calculate water losses in Punjab’s water share allocated under the Water Accord, we receive only 26maf out of total 56maf after incurring losses of 19maf in canal diversion processes and 11maf in watercourses mismanagement, an agriculture official said.
Punjab Agriculture Information Assistant Director Naveed Asmat Kahloon said the tertiary canal commanded irrigation system in the province consists of about 58,000 watercourses, irrigating 37.46 million acres of land. It has been established that colossal losses (up to 40pc) of water takes place in these century-old community channels because of their poor maintenance and aging.
He said this is resulting in severe shortage of irrigation supplies at the farm level and is being further aggravated due to escalating pressure on agriculture because of rapidly increasing population. He said another 10.11 million acres of land is lying outside the canal commands, which is irrigated by about 200,000 tube-wells as well as water lifting systems, farm-dug wells, streams, nullahs, etc.
The Punjab government has remodelled at least 44,000 watercourses and reconstructed them according to engineering design in the canal commanded areas of the province since inception of ‘On Farm Water Management Programme’.
In addition, about 13,000 irrigation schemes have been installed and developed in non-canal commanded areas. The intervention has generated significant economic, financial, social and environmental benefits, he added. He said farmers, planners and policymakers at national and international level have widely accepted the new strategy.
Kahloon said main causes of water losses in watercourses are seepage, spillage and side-leakages resulting from irregular profile and zigzag alignment of banks, with many points of weakness, silt deposition, causing restrictions in flows and overtopping, shrubs, vegetation and trees growing in watercourse right in the way, varying cross sections of the conveyance channel, frequent bank cuttings and plugging for water diversion, damage caused by rodents and animals.
The official emphasised that these losses could be minimised by adopting watercourse improvement procedures which consist of complete demolishing of community channel and its rebuilding / re-aligning according to the engineering design, to increase conveyance efficiency by reducing seepage, evaporation and operational losses.
He said various organisations and institutions have carried out different impact evaluation studies of watercourse improvement programme. The findings of these assessments have revealed that the intervention is highly cost-effective option for improving farm gate water availability. He said salient impacts of watercourse improvement are: annual water saving per acre-ft 122pc, improvement in crop yields 2-15pc, increase in cropping intensity 4pc, saving in irrigation time 28pc, expansion in irrigated area 21pc, reduction in labour for irrigation 50pc, enhancement in farm incomes 15pc, decrease in conveyance losses 39pc, curtailment in saline area 87pc.
The Punjab government is providing entire cost of construction materials besides providing technical guidance while farmers are required to contribute entire labour costs for improvement of the watercourses, he said.