Ahmed Khan Malik

Sindh Water Policy (SWP) aims to ensure integrated water resources management through institutional arrangements and effective measures based on the principles of accountability, decentralisation, participation, resilience, and transparency. The policy, recently approved by the Sindh government, sets directions and action plans for the active water management systems that secure long-term safe usage of water resources through institutional arrangements. The SWP describes the challenges, policy directions and actions on water governance, management of canal and drainage system, water management in dryland areas, management of water-dependent ecosystems, and water supply and sanitation services in urban and rural areas. It also outlines the way forward for implementation, reporting, coordination, and its review mechanism. Governance of water resources in Sindh province faces complex challenges that are the result of the combined effect of socio-economic development, changes in water use, and the impacts of climate change.

There is, moreover, a heritage of unresolved issues including rising water demand, deteriorating quality, increase in frequency of floods and droughts, environmental degradation, inequitable distribution of water, and inter-provincial water issues. Increased pressure on water system in Sindh makes the active and integrated management inevitable. This requires that the capacity and institutional arrangements should be shored up, and that one should move away from the fragmented and subsector approach towards an integrated approach, including the multifunctional operation of the canal system and the protection and harnessing of resources in Sindh’s drylands, groundwater aquifers, wetlands, and Indus Delta. Under the policy, Sindh Water Resources Council (SWRC) shall be established to review and coordinate the implementation of the SWP, recommend legislation, strategies, planning and coordination for water resources development and management, promote multi-stakeholders participation, integrated water resources management, and control pollution in water bodies.

In addition, Sindh Water Policy Implementation Committee shall be constituted which will be responsible for the implementation of the SWP. Furthermore, a comprehensive plan will be prepared to transform the Irrigation Department and Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) into Sindh Water Resources Management Department (SWRMD) with the main purpose of broadening their mandate to include both irrigation and water resources management.  The multifunctional management of the canal system needs to be optimised by the preparation of water management plans for each canal command area with engagement of diverse stakeholders. There are large and important areas in Sindh where water supply, agriculture and livestock keeping depend on the effective use of rain run off or floods.

These are the dryland areas outside the Indus Basin Irrigation System – the Kohistan area in the West, the Nara and Thar deserts in the East – covering 60% of the province. The policy seeks to establish an institutional home for the integrated development of the dryland areas, work at watershed level for the development of the drylands, better manage and develop the rangelands, promote judicious use of water, and develop plans for providing drinking water for the dryland parts of Sindh. Policy development, coordination and review will be implemented through a stakeholder working group comprising the relevant agency and representatives of SWRMD. Once the policy is launched, the group will meet periodically to monitor performance and ensure that the implementation is progressing. The policies will be formally reviewed on a five-yearly basis.

Credit: INP-WealthPk