Rainwater Harvesting in Cholistan Desert: A Case Study of Pakistan

Muhammad Akram Kahlown1

Abstract
About 70 million hectares of Pakistan fall under arid and semi-arid climate including desert land.
Cholistan is one of the main deserts covering an area of 2.6 million hectares where water scarcity is
the fundamental problem for human and livestock population as most of the groundwater is highly
saline. Rainfall is the only source of freshwater source, which occurs mostly during monsoon (July to
September). Therefore, rainwater harvesting in the desert has crucial importance. The Pakistan
Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has been conducting research studies on rainwater
harvesting since 1989 in the Cholistan desert by developing catchments through various techniques
and constructing ponds with different storage capacities ranging between 3000 and 15000 m3. These
ponds have been designed to collect maximum rainwater within the shortest possible time and to
minimize seepage and evaporation losses. As a result of successful field research on rainwater
harvesting system, PCRWR has developed 92 rainwater harvesting systems on pilot scale in Cholistan
desert. Each system consists of storage reservoir, energy dissipater, silting basin, lined channel, and
network of ditches in the watershed. The storage pond is designed to collect about 15000 m3 of water
with a depth of 6 m. Polyethylene sheet (0.127 mm) on bed and plastering of mortar (3.81 cm) on
sides of the pond was provided to minimize seepage losses. All these pilot activities to harvest rain
have brought revolution in the socio-economic uplift of the community. These activities have also
saved million of rupees during the recent drought. Large scales adoption of all these interventions
would ultimately help improve the socio-economic conditions of the residents of hyper arid area of
the country.
1. INTRODUCTION
Pakistan has 70 Mha arid and semi-arid lands that is about 80% of its total geographical area
(PADMU, 1983). Out of 41 Mha arid area, 11 Mha falls under main deserts where climate is hyper
arid (Kahlown and Majeed, 2004). These deserts are: Cholistan (2.6 Mha), Thal (2.3 Mha), Thar (4.3
Mha) and Chagi-Kharan (1.8 Mha) (Figure 1). The Cholistan is a big desert in the Punjab province
which consists of sand dune, sandy soil, loamy soil, and saline-sodic clayey soil. Human population in
the desert is about 0.11 million and livestock population is nearly 2.0 million. The population is
scattered at different places on the availability of drinking water. Low and sporadic rainfall (166 mm
average annual), high temperatures (up to 550 C in summer), low humidity, high rate of evaporation
and strong summer winds are the main characteristics of the climate. The groundwater is mostly
saline and unfit for human and livestock drinking (PCRWR, 2004a). Because of these limiting factors,
the local population is nomadic and remains in search of water and fodder for their animals.

1
Chairman, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), Khayaban-e-Johar,
Islamabad - Pakistan, Ph: 0092-51-9258959, Fax: 0092-51-9258963, Email: kahlown@hotmail.com,
pcrwr@isb.comsats.net.pk
 CHINA
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Figure 1: Main Deserts of Pakistan

The primary source of freshwater in the Cholistan desert is rainwater, which is collected in natural
depressions or man-made ponds locally called tobas. There are more than 1500 tobas in the desert out
of which only 500 are in operation (PCRWR, 2004b). These tobas are mostly not in appropriate
places because the sites have not been identified based on scientific information. Most of the
rainwater collected in the tobas is lost through seepage and evaporation due to high infiltration rates
in sandy soil and temperature with strong winds during summer season. Siltation in tobas is another
serious concern, which reduces their storage capacities rapidly, especially during monsoon season. In
order to improve the situation, PCRWR has been actively engaged in various research and
development (R&D) activities to uplift the socio-economic conditions of the dwellers.
Rainfall is single source of freshwater in the desert. It has been investigated that there is about 350
million cubic meter (Mm3) runoff potential available for storage in the desert (Table 1). Results of the
research studies conducted at Dingarh Station showed that drinking water requirements of the
dwellers could successfully be met through collecting rainwater on scientific grounds.
Table 1: Potential Runoff in the Cholistan Desert

Runoff for Storage in

Year Rainfall (mm) Potential Runoff (mm)
Cholistan (Mm3)
1989 84.2 38 168
1990 144.1 42 187
1991 173.0 87 385
1992 231.0 115 506
1993 155.9 89 392
1994 299.2 152 672
1995 213.0 131 582
1996 152.0 81 359
1997 201.0 74 327
1998 172.1 65 287
1999 20.8 3 14
2000 126.4 62 273
2001 148.6 50 222
2002 2.0 - -
2003 240.0 106 467
Average 160.5 79 350

2. DEVELOPMENT OF WATER HARVESTING SYSTEM

As a result of field research on rainwater harvesting techniques, PCRWR has initiated a 4-year
Research and Development (R&D) Programme in 2001 to make water available in the desert for
drinking. The activities were undertaken including reconnaissance survey to identify the suitable
catchments, demographic survey to assess water demands, hydrological studies to assess the runoff
potential of the catchment, topographic survey to determine the slope for runoff; development of
catchments to establish a network of ditches, soil profile investigations to determine physical and
chemical properties of the catchment/pond, design analysis of rainwater harvesting system to estimate
the quantity of civil works.
3. COLLECTION OF RAINWATER
Alive to the problems faced by the population in the desert, 92 rainwater-harvesting systems have
been developed on pilot scale. Each system contains the components like storage reservoir, energy
dissipater (stair), boundary wall, silting basin, lined channel, and ditches network in the catchment.
The storage pond is designed to collect about 15000 m3 (4.0 US million gallon) of water. The depth of
the pond is 6 m. Polyethylene sheet (0.127 mm) on bed and plastering of slag mortar (3.81 cm)
mixture of clay, quick lime, wheat straw and cement on sides of the pond have been provided to
minimize seepage losses. The quantity of the mortar for one pond includes 6 m3 clay, 100 kg lime,
970 kg wheat straw, and 0.06 m3 cement. The energy dissipater having dimensions of 1 m wide and
23 cm each length and height along one side of the pond protects the sides and the bed of the pond
from severe erosion expected from gushy water. Boundary wall does not only restrict the wild animals
and livestock but also provides barrier against movement of sand by strong summer winds. A small
silting basin controls the entrance of heavy sediments and debris in the pond. Each pond has been
connected with the catchment through a lined channel, which has a network of ditches. It has been
observed that all the constructed ponds got fill up to their full design capacity during the rainy seasons
(winter or monsoon). Water quality analysis of the selected ponds illustrated that the water quality
was within the permissible limits excluding turbidity level. In general practice, the livestock drink
water from the pond directly. However, the dwellers keep this water in mud pot for few hours by
adding alum treatment before drinking.
4. IMPACTS OF THE RAINWATER HARVESTING PROJECT
All these pilot activities have brought about revolution by creating awareness among the desert people
and the concerned development agencies working in the area. This project has harvested about 368
million gallons of freshwater annually to meet drinking water requirements of human and livestock
population. Moreover, this project has saved 6000 million rupees per drought in the form of livestock
production due to reduction in livestock migration, mortality, diseases and damage of crops. Increase
in production of livestock has also been observed in the form of meat, milk and other utilities besides
reduction of migration of human and livestock from desert towards irrigated area.
5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Following are conclusions and recommendations:
(i) Out of 350 Mm3 of runoff potential, 1.35 Mm3 has been harnessed successfully through
scientifically designed 92 pilot rainwater harvesting systems. The remaining potential can
easily be exploited through adopting rainwater harvesting strategy developed and tested by
PCRWR;
(ii) About 368 million gallons of freshwater is economically made available through out the year
against. However, maintenance of the system by local people is recommended to make it
sustainable;
(iii) There is still need to carry out research endeavors to evolve the cheapest method for reducing
evaporation and seepage losses from the ponds.
REFERENCES
Kahlown, M.A. and A. Majeed, 2004, Pakistan water resources development and management.
Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources.
PADMU, 1983, Country report Pakistan - Desertification problems, extent and remedial measures.
Pakistan Desertification Monitoring Unit (PADMU), Islamabad.
PCRWR, 2004a, Research study on evaluation of impact of research and development projects
implementation on desertification in Cholistan. Final Report. Pakistan Council of Research in
Water Resources (PCRWR). Publication No. 129.
PCRWR, 2004b, Pre-project socio-economic analysis of 25 selected settlements in Cholistan desert.
Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR). Publication No. 130.