Replied by VIF :There are contradictory views on the subject.

According to Dr Imran Saqib Khalid, who heads the environment and climate change unit at the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI): “Satellite data shows that the groundwater aquifer tilts towards India.”

This is contrary to the article according to which the slope of the water table is towards west and south-west i.e from Indian Punjab toward Pakistan. In other words, the ground waters of Punjab are flowing across the international boundary towards Pakistan.

Interestingly, Pakistan’s National Water Policy that was approved in March 2018 calls for trans-boundary cooperation in the sharing and management of underground aquifers. The apprehension is that if India extracts too much water it would affect Pakistan’s ground water availability. The reality is that Pakistan’s ground water extraction is reaching unsustainable levels. Hence, the emphasis in the policy that since the aquifers are connected, there must be a system to regulate ground water extraction on either side to prevent unregulated extraction.

Thus, clearly the issue is complex. We need to understand and study the issue in far greater depth.

Posted on October 05, 2018

Topics: Water, Environment