Improving groundwater management to enhance agriculture and farming livelihoods: Groundwater model for Left Bank Command of Sukkur Barrage in Khairpur, Naushero Feroze, and Shaheed Benazirabad districts

Irrigated agriculture has played an important role in the economic sustainability of Pakistan. The role of surface water irrigation remained pivotal in agricultural production and in recent decades the share of irrigation from groundwater has increased exponentially in Baluchistan, Punjab and in the freshwater zones of Sindh. In Sindh, farmers at the tail reaches are using marginal water conjunctively with surface water to fulfil the water demand. Sindh is unique with respect to groundwater. There are areas which are immensely exploited, and there are areas, which are facing water logging and salinization. It is essential to improve management of groundwater for sustaining the livelihood and agriculture land in the area. Presently, groundwater irrigation is neglected with respect to governance, and management. Its negligence will ultimately threaten the livelihood of people in Sindh, Pakistan. It is crucial to understand the hydrodynamics of the groundwater and establish sustainable yield thresholds that will support development of Sindhwater policy and management protocols. In this report, we present a regional flow model of the northern part of the left bank of Sukkur Barrage command. These areas lie in the freshwater zones, where the groundwater is used in supplement with surface water. Hydrologically, the study area is bounded by the Indus River tothe west, Nara Canal to the east, Sukkur Barrage on the north, southeast by Jamrao canal, and southwest by the Indus River. The area is irrigated by four main canals that offtake from the Sukkur Barrage. These canals are one of the major sources of groundwater recharge in the region, other recharge sources includes return flows from irrigated fields, precipitation and the Indus River. The study area has shallow and deep private tubewells (PTW), and SCARP (Salinity Control and Reclamation Project) tubewells which are installed at depth for controlling waterlogging and salinity. In the south of the model domain there are drains, which drain the excess groundwater from the study area.