Abstract
Indus Basin is the major fresh water reserve of Pakistan. Pakistan has serious issue of decrease in ground water
quantity as well as quality. Indus basin irrigates about 4 million hectares of land in Pakistan, which is the largest
area for which large amount of water is required. The main source for surface water in dry season of Pakistan is the
melting snow for River Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. The Indus Basin receives its water from rainfall, snow and
glacier melting. Changes in the climate have an impact on the distribution and timing of precipitation (rainfall and
snowfall) and on the melting of snow and ice.
There is increase in the demand of water in Pakistan but the supply side is deficient in full filling the resource
requirements. It’s an alarming situation for Pakistan as the per-capita water availability is 908 cubic meter from
5,260 cubic meter in 1951 and Pakistan can store only 10% of its annual water flows, which would ended only
within 30 days (The Nation, October, 7, 2017) Indus Basin is the major fresh water reserve of Pakistan. Pakistan has
serious issue of decrease in ground water quantity as well as quality.
The ground water level which used to be a 15 to 20 feet in 1971 from the ground has gone down to 90 feet in 2014.
On average 32 million acre feet (MAF) per year of fresh water is flowing down to Arabian Sea and if stored it would
fulfill the requirements of water for Pakistan( Ali, Iqbal:2015,126-127).Arsenic contamination of the ground water is
reached at a dangerous level. Water related diseases are increasing day by day
Mubeen Adnan. (2022) Pakistan’s Ability to Mitigate Water Shortage by Making Diamer-Bhasha Dam, Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, volume 59, issue 1.
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