The Canal system of Pakistan.

Farming and agriculture are said to be the oldest activities being performed by human on this earth and with the passage of time there have been some innovations and some new techniques to perform this activity. If we talk about Pakistan it has one of the most fertile soil in this world and all the credit goes to the presence of Indus valley in this region. Irrigation is just like the blood of agriculture and farming, there was a time when such activities used to be performed near rivers but as the time passed the land near river was no more available but the requirement of water was still there. As I said earlier there have been innovations in this field as well, the idea of irrigation with the man made resources emerged. Another reason for the emerging of this idea was to coup the problems in case of less rainfall.

The area where Pakistan is situated is blessed with some natural gifts and one of them is the irrigation system almost 75% of the land which is in agricultural use is covered by the irrigation system. Rivers have been the largest water source for many years, the rain fall has also been an important source and the third one is ground water.

The innovation of irrigation system is not as new as it sounds the legends of this system can be found in older days as well Persian wheel is an example that how people used to get water to the fields. Some other examples are Charsa, Shaduf and Karez. That’s what we find the things from the history and when we see what modern trend gave us in this regard we find perennial canals and tube wells.

The major source of water supply in Pakistan is Indus River along with its tributaries, and to utilize this source in better way Dams and Barrages have been established on them. Tarbela and Mangla are the larger dams and they generate hydro electricity as well as storing water and irrigating land, where as there are some small dams which only use as water reservoir and also supply water, some of the Small dams are Khanpur Dam, Rawal Dam and Hub Dam.

Dams are built on mountainous area where as Barrages based on flat surfaces. Barrages are also used in supply water for irrigation as well as for the other purposes e.g. home use. In Pakistan, Sukkur Barrage, Guddu Barrage, Kotri Barrage, and Chashma Barrage are some of the known barrages.

Canal is the thing which brings river water close to the field where it is required to be. These canals come out of rivers, dams, and barrages. The irrigation system of Pakistan is one of the best one in the world due to the largest irrigation system in the world.

The Inundation canal is an example that why this system is that good. These canals, like other canals, are taken from the rivers but the difference is that they get water when there is a rise in the water level due to flood. Therefore the extra water is used in some better way rather than letting it to spoil the things around. Inundation canal is something seasonal but there is requirement of eater throughout the year and the requirement is fulfill by perennial canals. Perennial canals are the canals that are used to supply water to the field and these are taken either from dams or barrages.

�Currently there are 3 large dams and 85 small dams, along with these dams there are 19 barrages to fulfill the water need.� From these dams and barrages 12 inter link canals, 45 canals have been taken to provide water to the fields. To utilize ground water 0.7 million tube wells have been installed. All the above mentioned resources are being used to cater ��the water need of the country. With the growing need of water these resources are not enough to meet the potential need. There is requirement of new dams and other factors to strengthen the irrigation system and to retain the title of the largest irrigation system in the world.�

(the stats have been taken from Pakistan360degrees.contentcreatorz.com)