Optimizing Pakistan's Water Economy using Hydro-Economic Modeling

Abstract

One of the key challenges in trans-boundary rivers management is how fairly you are able to distribute the limited and shared available water among riparian states. Water is the backbone of any country's agriculture and Pakistan is no exception. The scarcity of this resource is rapidly increasing and its outcome can be disastrous especially for the developing countries as stated in the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report (2012). Pakistan has an extensive irrigation infrastructure referred to the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS). This is the largest contiguous irrigation system in the world. The Indus river system that feeds this irrigation system consists of the main Indus River and its major tributaries - Kabul. Jhelum. Chenab. Ravi and Sutlej Rivers. The existing linear IBMR (Indus Basin Model-Revised) model is a hydro-economic model. It is one of the most comprehensive models built and has been used for planning water distribution for the Indus Basin from last three decades.