Rationalising water management policies: Tube well development and resource use sustainability in Balochistan region of Pakistan

The groundwater driven agricultural production is increasingly under threat due to rapidly depleting groundwater table in upland Balochistan region of Pakistan. Both government and water users can be blamed for the foreseen disaster. The government's policy for groundwater development following over estimation of groundwater reserves and the water user's inefficient usage are the main reasons for declining watertables. To examine the effect of groundwater related policies and other factors on the watertables decline during the past 40 years, time series data analysis technique ARIMA model was used. Results showed that the groundwater decline has been encouraged by government policies for tubewell development and power subsidy. The ratio of tubewell area to total area also showed highly significant effect on the watertable decline. The paper critically reviews groundwater marketing and governance system of advance countries such as USA and Australia to generate relevant findings for sustainable groundwater management in upland Balochistan.