IRRIGATION SYSTEM

OF PAKISTAN
 A system of supplying water to land
by means of artificial canals, ditches
etc to promote the growth of crops.
 72 percent of the Pakistan’s population
is associated with agriculture as their
main source of income.
 Pakistan is basically an agrarian
based economy.

Total geographical area is 79.61
million hectares.
 Cultivated area is 22.05 million
hectares.

The total area under irrigation is 19.02
million hectares.
 About more than 50 percent labor force is employed
in this sector.
 Pakistan possesses the world’s largest
contiguous irrigation system
 commonly called the Indus Basin Irrigation
System (IBIS).
 Irrigation system that consists of three major
reservoirs (Tarbela, Mangla, and Chashma ).
 19 barrages (Ferozepur, Sulemanki, Islam,
Balloki, Marala, Trimmu, Panjnad, Kalabagh,
Sukkur, Kotri, Taunsa, Guddu, Chashma,
Mailsi,Sidhnai, Rasul, Qadirabad and Marla).
Areas in million hectares
Canals 6.36

Tube-wells 3.79

Wells 0.31

Canal tube-wells 7.60

Canal wells 0.25

Other sources 0.31

Total irrigated Area 18.63

No of canal systems 44

No of water courses 107000

Length of canals 56073 km
Length of watercourses 1.6 Million km
No of inter link canals 12
Groundwater Abstractions 41.6 MAF

No of Tube wells >950000

Average Canal Water 104.7 MAF
Diversions
 Intake Structure or Pumping
Station
 Conveyance / Distribution System
 Field Application System
 Drainage System
 Intake structures are used for collecting water from
the surface sources such as river, lake, and reservoir
and conveying it further to the water treatment
plant.
 These structures are masonry or concrete structures
and provides relatively clean water, free from
pollution, sand and objectionable floating material.
 In some cases, the irrigation water source lies below
the level of the irrigated fields. Then a pump must be
used to supply water to the irrigation system.
About 44 MAF water is being pumped by public and private tube
wells. Total no. of tube wells in Pakistan are:

Private Tube wells =

>950,000 Public+SCARP
Tubewells = 125000
 Both built on river or watercourse to control
water, distribute it through canals for irrigation
or other purpose of supplying water.
Difference:
 Barrage can serve as a storage.
 Electricity can be produced at a barrage by
construction of hydro power plant.
 Barrages are usually larger than the headworks of
irrigation and navigation canals, with which they
are associated .
 The conveyance and distribution systems consist
of canals transporting the water through the
whole irrigation system.
 Canal structures are required for the control
and measurement of the water flow.
 The flow of irrigation water in the canals must always
be under control. For this purpose, canal structures
are required.
 Canal help regulate the flow and deliver the correct
amount of water to the different branches of the
system and onward to the irrigated fields.
 Classification based on Function of Canal

Distribution canals:
It is a canal composed of distributaries and minors
which have direct outlets to the fields.
Hydel canals:
It is a canal on which power houses are set up for
hydel power generation.
Navigation canals:
It is a canal which is primarily used for
transportation by water. Multipurpose Canal:
HYDEL CANAL
NAVIGATION CANAL
 Classification of canals on the basis of discharge are
as follows:
 Main canal.
 Branch canal.
 Distributary canal.
 Water courses/Feeder channels.
Main
Canals:
Canals having discharge greater than 10 cumecs
are called as main canals.
 A main canal carries discharge directly from river.
 It carries large amount of water and cannot be used
for direct irrigation.
 Main canal supplies water to the branch canals.
Branch
Canals:
Canals having discharge in the range of 5-10 cumecs.
 Branch canals also do not carry out direct irrigation
but sometimes direct outlets are provided.
 Branch canals are actually the feeders for major
and minor distributaries.
 Distributary
canals:
Canals having discharge 0.25-3 cumecs
are called Distributary canal.
 They are further divided into two types:
1. Major Distributary.
2. Minor Distributary.
Field Channels (Water
Courses):
These are the small channels which ultimately
feed water to the irrigation fields.
 Discharge < 0.25 cumecs.
 Depending upon the extent of irrigation, a field
channel may take off from a major distributary or
minor.
 Sometimes, it may even take off water from the
branch canal for the field situated very near to the
branch canal.
 There are four main types of canals in
Pakistan:

 Perennial Canals

 Non-Perennial Canals

 Inundation Canals

 Link Canal
Classification based on being lined or not lined

i. Unlined canals
ii. Lined canals
An open channel may be
rigid boundary (lined) or mobile boundary
(unlined) section. Unlined channels lose a
substantial part of the usable water through
seepage.
...Canals are lined for
slowing the seepage loss. A perfect lining would
prevent all the seepage loss, but canal lining
deteriorates with time.
 Lined Canal
ll
 Un-lined Canal
lUUl
 There are many methods of applying water to the
field.
The simplest one consists of bringing water from
the source of supply, such as a well, to each plant
with a bucket or a water-can
 This is a very time-consuming method and it
involves quite heavy work. However, it can be used
successfully to irrigate small plots of land, such as
vegetable gardens, that are in the neighbourhood of
a water source.
 Continue
:
 More sophisticated methods of water application
are used in larger irrigation systems.
 There are three basic methods:
1. surface irrigation
2. sprinkler irrigation
3. drip irrigation
 Surface irrigation is the application of water to the
fields at ground level.
 Either the entire field is flooded or the water is
directed into furrows or borders.
 There are further three types of Surface irrigation :
 Furrow irrigation
 Basin irrigation
 Border irrigation
 Furrows are narrow ditches dug on the field between
the rows of crops.
 The water runs along them as it moves down the slope of
the field.
 The water flows from the field ditch into the furrows
by opening up the bank or dyke of the ditch or by
means of syphons or spiles.
 Siphons are small curved pipes that deliver water over
the ditch bank .Spiles are small pipes buried in the
ditch bank.
 Furrow are narrow ditches dug on the
field between the rows of crops.
 Basins are horizontal, flat plots of land, surrounded
by small dykes or bunds.
 The banks prevent the water from flowing to
the surrounding fields.
 Basin irrigation is commonly used for rice grown on
flat lands or in terraces on hillsides
 Trees can also be grown in basins, where one
tree usually is located in the center of a small
basin.
 In border irrigation, the field to be irrigated is
divided into strips by parallel dykes or border
ridges.
 The water is released from the field ditch onto
the border through gate structures called
outlets.
 The water can also be released by means of
siphons or spiles.
 The sheet of flowing water moves down the slope
 With sprinkler irrigation, artificial rainfall is created.
 The water is led to the field through a pipe
system in which the water is under pressure.
 The spraying is accomplished by using several
rotating sprinkler heads or spray nozzles or a single
gun type sprinkler.
 In drip irrigation, also called trickle irrigation, the
water is led to the field through a pipe system.
 On the field, next to the row of plants or trees, a
tube is installed.
 At regular intervals, near the plants or trees, a
hole is made in the tube and equipped with an
emitter.
 The water is supplied slowly, drop by drop, to the
plants through these emitters.
Components used in drip irrigation include:

 Pump or pressurized water source

 Water filter(s) or filtration systems: sand separator, Fertigation
systems (Venturi injector)
 Backwash controller (Backflow prevention device)
 Pressure Control Valve (pressure regulator)
 Distribution lines (main larger diameter pipe, maybe
secondary smaller, pipe fittings)
 Hand-operated, electronic, or hydraulic control valves and
safety
valves
 Smaller diameter polyethylene tube (often called "laterals")
 Poly fittings and accessories (to make connections)
 Emitting devices at plants (emitter or dripper, micro spray
 A drainage system is necessary to remove excess
water from the irrigated land. This excess water may
be e.g. waste water from irrigation or surface runoff
from rainfall. It may also include leakage or seepage
water from the distribution system.

 Excess surface water is removed through shallow

open drains. Excess groundwater is removed
through deep open drains or underground pipes.
 About 77.4% of the total irrigated area of Pakistan falls
in Punjab.

 2.8% area falls in KPK and 19.8% in Sindh and

Baluchistan.

 Based on the statistics of the last 10 years, the area

irrigated by canals has increased slowly by an aggregate
of 6% but its share in irrigated area has remained
constant due to the continuous increase in the number of
tube wells which now irrigate 20% more area than 10
years ago.
 The public irrigation infrastructure in the Punjab
consists of 13 barrages,12 link canals and 23 major
canal systems over an aggregate length of 34,500
km.
 The whole irrigation infrastructure lies within the
Indus Basin System.
 It serves an area of 8.58 million hectares.
 In addition, there are 135 surface drainage systems
including over 670 drains, with an aggregate length
of about 6,600 km, which drain an area of about
 Sindh has 14 publicly owned irrigation systems,
which receive
 water from three barrages across the River Indus.
 These systems, with an aggregate length of
18,000 km of canals, serve an area of about 5.38
million hectares.
 There are 13 existing surface drainage systems in
Sindh, which serve a total area of over 3.5 million
hectares and have an aggregate length of about
4,800 km.
 New drains are also being constructed in the
province.
 KPK has five publicly owned irrigation systems in the
Indus Basin, which serve a total area of 0.34 million
hectares.
 These systems receive water from two headworks
across River Swat and Warsak Dam.
 In addition, there are six other canal systems, which
serve a
total of 0.13 million hectares of land.
 KPK has over 200 canals called `civil canals`, which
are community or privately owned.
 These irrigate an aggregate area of 0.83 million
hectares.
There are four surface drainage systems in KPK
 Balochistan has three canal systems, which receive
water from the Indus Basin System through Guddu
Barrage and Sukkur Barrage, located in Sindh.
 These canal systems serve a total area of 0.33
million hectares. One
 of these, the Pat Feeder Canal System, has been
improved recently.
 In addition, there are 431 independent publicly owned
small
irrigation schemes, which serve 0.14 million hectares.
 There are a few privately owned small irrigation
schemes too.