Natural resources – An issue of
sustainability
Contents:
Types of natural resources
Hydrological cycle
Importance of rivers to Pakistan
The Indus system
Mean monthly discharge of river
Rivers of Balochistan
Ground water
Uses of Water
Factors responsible for development of canal system in
Pakistan.
Why We Need Irrigation
Warm-up activity:
Do you know how many natural resources you
enjoy daily?
Come-on count it
1…..2…..3…..4…..5…..6….7…..
Let’s classify them…..
NATURAL RESOURCE:
Natural resources are defined as means of meeting a social or
economic need of people.
Let’s name the different processes
of hydrological cycle
Hydrological Cycle
Importance of rivers to Pakistan
The Indus
system
THE RIVER INDUS
Originating in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar, the
river runs a course through the Ladakh region of Jammu and
Kashmir, Gilgit, Baltistan and flows through Pakistan in a southerly
direction along the entire length of Pakistan to merge into the Arabian Sea.
The total length of the river is 3,180 km (1,980 mi). It is Pakistan's longest
river. The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 km 2
(450,000 sq mi).
In the plains, its left bank tributary is Chenab which itself has four major
tributaries, namely, Jhelum, Ravi Beas and Satluj.
Its principal right bank tributaries are Shyok, Gilgit, Kabul, Gomal
and Kurram.
Mean monthly discharge of river
River discharge is the
volume of water flowing
through a river channel,
at any given point and is
measured in cubic
metres per second
(cumecs).
During summer River
Indus discharge is very
high. Why?
Rivers of Balochistan
Ground water
• Water beneath the surface of
the ground called ground
water.
• It has a great regional &
seasonal fluctuation.
• It is very easy to obtain
ground water in foothills of
mountains and difficult in
desert areas.
Water Table
• Level of ground water is called
water table.
Ground water
• Ground water is tapped by tube wells, Karez, and wells.
• Ground water is extremely useful in the areas like Baluchistan Plateau and
desert areas because in these areas irrigation is impossible due to less
rainfall and unsuited land for canals.
• Ground water can be saline or sweet. It is non-saline near the source of
re-charge i.e rivers and major canals. It gradually becomes more saline as
the distance from re-charge sources increases.
• In big cities like Karachi, there is a shortage of water due to growing
population. People use water for domestic purposes so they pump out the
water through pipes drilled into the ground.
• In big industrial cities like Karachi, ground water may not be fit for human
consumption due to seepage of toxic chemicals, sewage or sea-water into
the ground. Therefore ground water should be tested in a laboratory
before it is used.
Why We Need Irrigation
1. Most of the areas in our country experience aridity or semi-aridity
which increases from north to south.
2. High variability in the distribution of rainfall. This variability ranges
from 30 to 70 % in humid areas, 30 to 40 % in arid areas and 40 to
70 % in semi arid areas.
3. Long dry spell (April to June and October to November) in Pakistan.
4. High variability in the timings of rainfall.
5. Small no. of rainy days which are 20 in south, 20 to 50 days in
northern areas and 93 at Murree per annum.
6. High rate of evapo-transpiration especially in arid and semi arid
areas.
7. In 1948 India has stopped the water of canals, irrigated the areas of
newly founded
Pakistan.
8. Recently India has constructed the dams on River Indus and River
Chenab.
