- Ongoing projects under PSDP likely to add 9.821 MAF of storage.
- Commission proposes body to bolster accountability in distribution.
- Notes sharp reduction in flood warning time at Marala Headworks.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan plans to increase water-use efficiency from the current 40% to 70% and raise water availability at farm gates from 58.3 million acre-feet (MAF) to 79 MAF by 2029, requiring an estimated $18 billion in federal financing over the next decade for strategic water infrastructure, according to a Planning Commission report.
The National Water Security framework under URAAN Pakistan envisages major reforms in irrigation management, reservoir development, flood protection and groundwater regulation to address the country’s worsening water scarcity.
The report sets a target of increasing water storage capacity from the existing 15.318 MAF to 23.54 MAF by 2029, while warning that current live storage represents only 11% of annual Indus River flows.
Ongoing projects under the Public Sector Development Programme are expected to add 9.821 MAF of storage, while a strategic pipeline of proposed projects, including Akhori Off-Channel Storage Dam, Shyok Dam and Skardu Dam, could provide approximately 14.5 MAF of additional capacity.
The report estimates the 10-year federal financing requirement for strategic water infrastructure at approximately $18 billion, covering flood management, storage development and canal modernisation. It also proposes establishing a Water System Integrator function under the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) to strengthen accountability in water distribution from rivers to farms.
Agriculture accounts for approximately 95% of freshwater withdrawals in Pakistan, while water-use efficiency across the irrigation system remains around 40%.
The proposed reforms include accelerating the adoption of drip and sprinkler irrigation through financial incentives, reforming abiana to reflect actual operation and maintenance costs, and rationalising cropping patterns to improve water productivity.
The report identifies approximately 20.58 million acres of suitable agricultural land outside formal irrigation networks, highlighting potential for expanding irrigated agriculture across the country. It also recommends linking subsidies for solar-powered agricultural tubewells to groundwater registration and sustainable extraction limits, warning that solarisation is accelerating groundwater depletion by allowing farmers to pump water at effectively zero marginal energy cost.
Groundwater levels are declining by 0.5 to one metre annually across Punjab, while the Indus Basin Aquifer has been identified as the second most overstressed aquifer system globally.
The report also highlights a sharp reduction in flood warning time at Marala Headworks, from 40 hours in 2014 to just 5.5 hours in 2025 and proposes declaring water security a national security agenda.
It recommends enacting the National Flood Protection Plan-IV, strengthening glacier monitoring through a National Glacier Protection Act and revising flood design assessments using updated hydrological data.
The framework further proposes recycling at least 25% of urban wastewater, noting that approximately 53% of monitored urban water sources are unsafe for human consumption.
The report warns that achieving the 2029 targets would require coordinated implementation of infrastructure development, regulatory reforms and improved water governance.
Originally published in The News
