Institutional Analysis of Water Governance in Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan is said to be at the brink of being a water-scarce country current per capita water availability is 1090 m3 per year. This point to the water governance issues in Pakistan. Given these problems, a debate among scholars and policymakers is what governance model should Pakistan adopt to manage its water resources effectively. A few of them are a proponent of privatization of water, while others argue that traditional warabandi can still be an effective way to manage the water if certain loopholes in the system can be addressed. In this paper, we discuss both models and analysis with institutional theories of (water) property rights and relations, state authority, and neoliberalism to analyze the pros and cons of both models. In conclusion, we enlist the problems that persist in both models and provide recommendations for better governance of water in Pakistan.

Assessing Barriers in Adaptation of Water Management Innovations under Rotational Canal Water Distribution System

“…The meaning of wara is 'turn' and bandi means 'fixation'. Together, these terms reflect the rotation of water distribution according to a rigid schedule [2,3].…”

“…The distribution is characterized by a rigid cycle of considering once a week a particular time period in a pre-planned schedule determining the day, hour and duration of water delivery with an amount proportional to the area of agricultural land owned by farmers [3]. To maintain an equitable distribution of surface water, the canal water allocation is kept low to cope with water scarcity by efficiently irrigating as much land as possible [2].…”

“…It is, for example, a rigid supply-based water distribution mode that does not match crops' water demand stages and does not take into account soil properties or environmental changes. Furthermore, it fails to account for canal conveyance losses, resulting in decreased water allocation for downstream canal users [2][3][4][5].…”