INDUS BASIN IRRIGATION SYSTEM, BRIEF HISTORY & SALIENT FEATURES

7/31/2019 INDUS BASIN IRRIGATION SYSTEM, BRIEF HISTORY & SALIENT FEATURES

1/4

Irrigation Engineering - II Sir Usman Afzal Waseem

1) INDUS BASIN IRRIGATION SYSTEM, BRIEF HISTORY &SALIENT FEATURES.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Indus Valley has been the host to one of the most ancientcivilization of human history, the Indus Valley Civilization.After the extinction of the Indus Civilization, new settlementsespecially in doabs grew slowly. New irrigation systemsstarted to evolve. Inundation canals and small dams wereconstructed and population grew all around this area. Inorder to reduce the occurrence of low irrigation water supplythe British authorities, towards the middle of the last century,started modernizing and expanding the irrigation system ofthe Indus Basin.

INDUS BASIN IRRIGATION SYSTEM - IBIS

Today we have the world's marvelous and the largest contiguousirrigation system that currently irrigates over 16 million hectaresof land, out of 34 million hectares of cultivable lands available.

This land lies within the plains formed by river Indus and itstributaries. Britishers started the barrage irrigation system during1930s.

In order to fully utilize the river water resources, the IBIS hasemerged as the largest contiguous irrigation system in the world.

The IBIS comprises of three large dams, eighty five small dams,nineteen barrages, twelve inter-river link canals, forty-five canalcommands and 0.7 million tube wells In monetary terms, thisnetwork is the biggest infrastructure enterprise of Pakistanaccounting for approximately US$ 300 billion of investment.

SALIENT FEATURES:We have entered into 21st century with world's largest and

unified irrigation system that consists of three major reservoirs(Chashma, Mangla, and Tarbela); 18 barrages (Ferozepur,Sulemanki, Islam, Balloki, Marala, Trimmu, Panjnad, Kalabagh,Sukkur, Kotri, Taunsa, Guddu, Chashma, Mailsi, Sidhnai, Rasul,Qadirabad, and Marala); 12 link canals; 45 irrigation canals; andover 107,000 water courses and millions of farm channels & fieldditches. The total length of main canal system is estimated about

Section B 2007 Civil -87


2/4


585000 Kilometer (36932 miles) and that of watercourses &fieldchannels exceeds 1.62 million Kilometers (over 1.02 millionmiles).

TREATY BETWEEN PAKISTAN AND INDIA - INDUS BASIN

REPLACEMENT WORKS

After the partition a commission was set up to resolve anyissue that may emerge as a consequence of the partition. Thematter of utilization of water resources of Indus Basin was raisedby Pakistan. The boundary commission, chaired by Sir CyrilRadcliff, awarded control barrages (situated very close to theborder) to India, while 90 percent of irrigated land lay in Pakistan.

After a protracted negotiation of ten years throughfacilitation of the World Bank, the Indus Basin Treaty was signed

by India and Pakistan in 1960 for distribution of water resourcesin the Indus Basin. According to the terms of the treaty India wasgiven the exclusive use of the waters of the eastern riversnamely Ravi, Sutlej and Beas. Pakistan was not given its fullhistoric share and was allocated only 75 percent of its legitimateshare of the waters in Indus Basin. Consequently, Pakistanagreed to embark upon a gigantic project nicknamed as IndusBasin Replacement Works. The extensive undertakinginvolved the construction of two major dams, five barrages andeight link canals.

INDUS BASIN TREATYThe Indus Waters Treaty is a water-

sharing treaty between the Republic of India and Islamic RepublicOf Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank (then the InternationalBank for Reconstruction and Development). The treaty wassigned in Karachi on September 19, 1960 by Indian PrimeMinisterJawaharlal Nehru and President of PakistanMohammadAyub Khan. The treaty was a result of Pakistani fear that sincethe source rivers of the Indus basin were in India, it couldpotentially create droughts and famines in Pakistan, especially attimes of war.

PROVISIONS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Republic_Of_Pakistanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Republic_Of_Pakistanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bankhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bank_for_Reconstruction_and_Developmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bank_for_Reconstruction_and_Developmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karachihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehruhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Pakistanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Ayub_Khanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Ayub_Khanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Republic_Of_Pakistanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Republic_Of_Pakistanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bankhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bank_for_Reconstruction_and_Developmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bank_for_Reconstruction_and_Developmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karachihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehruhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Pakistanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Ayub_Khanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Ayub_Khanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India


3/4


The Indus System ofRivers comprises threeWestern Rivers the Indus,theJhelum and Chenab and three Eastern Rivers -

the Sutlej, the Beas andthe Ravi; and with minorexceptions, the treatygives India exclusive useof all of the waters of theEastern Rivers and theirtributaries before thepoint where the riversenter Pakistan. Similarly,Pakistan has exclusive

use of the WesternRivers. Pakistan also received one-time financial compensationfor the loss of water from the Eastern rivers.

The countries agree to exchange data and co-operate inmatters related to the treaty. For this purpose, treaty creates thePermanent Indus Commission, with a commissioner appointed byeach country

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhelum_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenab_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutlejhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beas_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhelum_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenab_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutlejhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beas_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_River


4/4



Documents

INDUS BASIN IRRIGATION SYSTEM, BRIEF HISTORY & SALIENT FEATURES