New water rights for basin management and inclusivity in spate irrigated areas of Pakistan

This webpage regards the ‘New water rights for basin management and inclusivity in spate irrigated areas of Pakistan’ project. The project has been referred to as the ‘Newarbi’ project in short and is located in two spate systems in Pakistan; Bhag Narri in Balochistan Province and Nai Gaj in Sindh Province, together covering an area of 130,000 ha. Spate irrigation is a water resource system that makes productive use of short duration floods in dry river beds. Since upstream water users capture monsoon flood water (for irrigation), limited availability is left for downstream users. The project therefore aims to contribute towards the re-setting of water distribution rules in target command areas, thereby promoting efficient water use in agriculture for better livelihood opportunities. The project objectives are:

• To optimise the current spate systems by revising the water distribution rules in those dry river systems that have benefitted from technical interventions in the headworks.
• To optimise their overall productivity and promoting their inclusivity, especially for the weakest downstream users.
• To introduce a whole range of improvements through Farmer Groups – related to crop agronomy, livestock keeping, small mechanization and water storage – based on proven experience elsewhere in similar water systems.

Various outcomes were defined:

• Outcome 1: Improved and equitable utilisation of productive floodwater, by building partnership among upstream and downstream water engaging communities;
• Outcome 2: Higher and more equitable returns from flood flows between command areas of selected river basins, as a result of water productivity increases;
• Outcome 3: Expanded profitable business opportunities for floodwater users as a result of increased production of commercial crops (guar, sorghum, oil seeds);
• Outcome 4: Creating new livelihood opportunities and increase the productivity of flood-based agriculture and livestock rearing in the two sub-basins;
• Outcome 5: Approach and methods shared and introduced in other basins that depend on flood flows.

For project results, see the project brochure below.