Abstract
Sustainable management of canal water through optimum water allocation is the need of the modern world due to the rapid rise in water demand and climatic variations. The present research was conducted at the Chaj Doab, Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) of Pakistan, using the WEAP (Water Evaluation and Planning) model. Six different scenarios were developed, and the results showed that the current available surface water is not sufficient to meet crop water demands. The Lower Jhelum Canal (LJC) command area is more sensitive to water scarcity than the Upper Jhelum Canal (UJC). The future (up to 2070) climate change scenarios for RCP 4.5 and 8.5 showed a decrease in catchment reliability up to 26.80 and 26.28% for UJC as well as 27.56 and 27.31% for LJC catchment, respectively. We concluded that scenario 3 (irrigation efficiency improvement through implementation of a high efficiency irrigation system, canal lining, reduction and replacement of high delta crops with low delta crops) was sufficient to reduce the canal water deficit in order to optimize canal water allocation. Improvement in the irrigation system and cropping area should be optimized for efficient canal water management.
Highlights
During the calibration period for the Upper Jhelum Canal (UJC), the model shows a close match in January, February, April, August, October and December, while it overestimates in May, July, September and November (Figure 5)
For the Lower Jhelum Canal (LJC), the observed and simulated streamflow values are very close during January, April, June and July
Results for scenario 6 showed a decrease in reliability for both catchment are in UJC from 61 to 34.87% and in LJC 46 to 19.10%
Summary
Pakistan’s economy primarily depends on irrigated agriculture, and it uses more than 95% of its total fresh water resources to irrigate 80% of the cultivatable land, which generates 90% of nutrition and fodder [1]. The agriculture sector’s contribution to the GDP of Pakistan is almost 19%, and it provides jobs for 42% of people [2]. In Pakistan, water is under stress with susceptible irrigation, and its availability directly influences the socioeconomic situation of the country. An increase in future food demands more water to produce food, but no additional water is available [1]. Water scarcity has risen in preventing plant development as a necessary constraint of the environment in most regions [3,4]. More than 30 countries in arid and semi-arid regions of the world
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