Punjab ENVIS Centre NEWSLETTER Vol. 12, No. 3 Year 2014-15 WATER RESOURCES OF PUNJAB l Inform ta at n io e n m S Status of Environment & Related Issues n y o s r t i e v m n E www.punenvis.nic.in INDIA EDITORIAL Water is vital for all life forms on earth. Though it is districts). Further, long dry spells and low an abundant and renewable natural resource, yet precipitations have aggravated the problem in the only 2.7 percent of global water is available as fresh semi-arid region of the state. Thus, over- water, and of this, only 30 percent is available to exploitation of the resource and discharge of meet the water demand of mankind and livestock. untreated municipal and industrial effluents in Water resources in Punjab consist of both surface rivers, canals and drainage system have created water and ground water resources. The per capita multiple environmental problems and social water availability is decreasing due to ever challenges. It has further, posed a threat to degrade increasing population. Punjab utilizes nearly 80 the quality of soil and reduce crop yields and also percent of available water resources. The deteriorating the quality of both surface and anthropogenic activities namely, agriculture, ground water. industrial growth, and uncontrolled urbanization The present issue of Newsletter discusses the status put tremendous pressure on its water resources and quality of water resource in Punjab. It is hoped both in terms of quantity and quality. Though the that within the state, more studies may be taken up state has well developed canal system but most of to address the emerging issues related to water and them are located in south-western districts such as also various organizations engaged in water Bathinda, Ferozepur, Mansa, Faridkot, Muktsar, etc management take more remedial actions to protect The ground water resources are also being utilized the resource by taking up problem specific and area indiscrimi-nately. This has caused water table specific programmes. decline in certain parts (central districts) of Punjab and water table rise causing water-logging and - Editors salinity problems in other parts( south-western ENVIS Centre, PSCST is a partner of Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Chandigarh. RCE Network is an initiative of United Nations University – Institute of Advanced Studies, Japan, which focuses on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). This article on “Water Resource of Punjab” in the region reinstate PSCST's endeavour for creating awareness and capacity building for conservation of water resource within the region. Editorial Team Published by Contact us Dr. Neelima Jerath Punjab ENVIS Centre ENVIS Centre, Punjab State Council for Dr. Satnam Singh Ladhar Punjab State Council for Science & Technology Science & Technology, Mr. Gurharminder Singh MGSIPA Complex, Institutional Area, Chandigarh Sector 26, Chandigarh - 160 019 Ms. Ravleen Singh Phones: 0172-2792325, 2795001, Sponsored by Fax: 0172-2793143 I.T. Assistance Ministry of Environment Email: [email protected], Mr. Dinesh Kumar & Forests, Website : www.punenvis.nic.in Government of India Punjab ENVIS Centre Newsletter | 2 Introduction industrialization. Presently, the Punjab state contributes nearly 39 percent wheat and 22 percent Punjab is a small state. It occupies only 1.57 percent rice to the central pool. of the country's total geographical spread and is a part of Indo- Gangetic plains formed due to alluvial Administratively, the state is divided into 22 districts deposits by rivers and tributaries. Two major rivers, including Ajitgarh (formerly Mohali or SAS Nagar), the Sutlej and the Beas, traverse the state and Ravi Amritsar, Barnala, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh and Ghaggar touch its Northern and Southern Sahib, Fazilka, Ferozpur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, borders, respectively. This river pattern divides the Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Mansa, Moga, state into three geographical area popularly known Pathankot, Patiala, Ropar, Sahid Bhagat Singh as 'Majha' (North West of Beas), 'Malwa' (South of Nagar(formerly Nawanshahar), Sangrur, Sri Sutlej) and 'Doaba' (between Sutlej & Beas). Muktsar Sahib (earlier Muktsar) and Tarn Taran. The districts are further divided into 81 tehsils, 86 sub- On the basis of geomorphology, the state can be tehsils, 145 blocks and 12,581 inhabited villages. divided into hills, table lands, intermontane valleys, The state is having a good network of roads. piedmont plains, alluvial plains, sand dunes, paleochannels, flood plains, wetlands and salt Climatically, the State is typically sub-tropical with affected areas. Some of these areas like hot summers and cold winters. The minimum paleochannels, sand dunes, salt affected, temperature in winter falls to 0oC and the summer wet/water logged areas and alluvial plains have maximum temperature touches 47oC. Frost is experienced drastic changes in the past couple of common during the winter months, which affects decades due to human interventions. The state vegetation to a large extent. The onset of monsoon supports 2.29 percent of the country's population in July brings down the temperature, but high with a population density of 550 persons per sq. humidity during July-August causes uncomfortable Km. Land use in the state is shared by agriculture, conditions. The temperature falls appreciably by the forests, water bodies, built up areas, barren & end of October. Cold waves occasionally cause uncultured land, etc. Ecologically, the area under temperature to fall below freezing point at some the present state of Punjab comprises of grassland places. The day temperature rises rapidly during and cropland ecosystems interspersed with natural March and thereafter slows down from May to June forest areas and orchards with abundant lotic and when it reaches the maximum. The westerly winds lentic water bodies. (locally known as Loo) blow in the month of June. The state, which has done remarkably well in the The average annual rainfall received in the State is field of agriculture, is also on its way to rapid around 560 mm in the plants and 960mm in the mountainous region. The rainfall decreases from north and north-east to the south. About 70 percentof the annual rainfall is received during the monsoon months between the middle of July to the middle of September and rest is received during the winter in the months of December and January. The mean relative humidity varies between 50 to 95 percent. Water Resources of Punjab In Punjab, the vast Indo - Gangetic alluvial plain forms an excellent repository of ground water resources. Ground water in Punjab occurs under Green Fields in Punjab both confined and unconfined conditions. The Punjab Envis Centre Newsletter | 3 aquifers are laterally and vertically extensive and Box 1. Major Rivers in Punjab: Origin & Extent persistent in nature. In south-western parts, the River Sutlej is the longest of all the rivers that flow thickness of fresh water aquifer is much less as through the region of Punjab. The Satluj enters Punjab compared to the other parts because area is near Nangal, moves on to plains at Ropar, passes underlain by brackish/saline water. At places, the through district Ludhiana and joins Beas at Harike before thickness of fresh water bearing aquifer is even less crossing over to Pakistan. Its total length is 440 km in the than 10 m (CGWB, 2014). state Satluj Beas and Ravi are the perennial rivers of the Beas river enters Punjab near Talwara and enters the plains to meet the Satluj at Harike. Its total length is 470 Indus system, which flows through Punjab that km. together carry 40.5 x 109 m3 of water (Jain and Rajkumar, 2007). Ghaggar is the seasonal river. Ravi river enters Punjab plains near Madhopur and passes on to Pakistan 26 km below Amritsar. Himalayan glaciers melt account for about 58 percent of the source water supply of these rivers. River Ghaggar enters Punjab ne ar Mubarkpur All these rivers are tapped by using dams at traversing through district Patiala, Sangrur and Mansa and then it re-enters Haryana. different levels in the catchment areas (Map 1) and stored water is utilized for irrigation through a Source : Punjab Pollution Control Board strong network of canals in the command areas. Main Line (BML). BML further bifurcates into (Singh & Bangoo, 2013) The origin and extent of Narwana branch and Bhakhra main branch. At major rivers of Punjab are given in Box 1. The details Ropar again two main canals, Sirhind canal and Bist of surface water and ground water resources is Doab canal originate. At Harike, Satluj feeds water discussed in the succeeding text. to Rajasthan feeder canal and Ferozepur feeder Map 1 Water Resources in Punjab canal. The Bikaner canal (Gang Canal) originates at Hussainiwala, one main canal from Beas originates at Shah Nehar Barrage called Shah Nehar or MukerianHydel Channel. The major irrigation canal originating from Ravi at Madhopur is Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC). The total stretch of canals & distributaries (including minor distributaries) is approx. 14,500 km. The Rajasthan feeder canal has the maximum capacity of 18,500 Cusecs. Sirhind canal system has the maximum Culturable Source : Department of Irrigation, Punjab Surface Water Resources The water potential of state is about 14.54 Million Acre Feet (MAF) or 1.79 million hectare metre (mham). The state has well developed network of canals with about 1,00,000 km water courses with total Culturalable Command Area (CCA) of 30.88 Lacs hectares. (Map 2) The main canals from River Satluj are Anandpur Hydel Channel and Bhakhra Abohar Canal at Sudhar, District Ludhiana Punjab ENVIS Centre Newsletter | 4 Map 2 Canal Network of Punjab Map 3. Drainage Network of Punjab Source : Punjab Remote Sensing Center Source : Punjab Remote Sensing Center Command Area of 1.36 million ha. The capacity of state of Punjab. The other main drainage channels main canals in Punjab is presented in Fig 1.