ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan can now monitor its groundwater continuously and in far greater detail thanks to nuclear isotope techniques, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report released on Saturday.
The report credits the Regional Cooperative Agreement (RCA) programme on hydrology and groundwater, which helped Pakistan adopt isotope methods that show where groundwater is recharged from, how old it is and the routes by which contamination reaches it.
Studies under the programme covered the Indus Plain, the Quetta Valley and the Cholistan Desert. Before it, the report says, conventional methods gave authorities only basic data on the country’s aquifers.
The Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH) now hosts one of the most advanced isotope analysis facilities in the region, backed by a network of 12 laboratories across the country. It works with the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) to feed isotope data into national groundwater models.
“This integration supports the early detection of over-extraction, salinity intrusion and other forms of aquifer stress,” the report said, adding that policymakers are moving from reacting to groundwater crises to preventing them, with economic, social and environmental benefits.
Pakistan is one of the world’s biggest users of groundwater, which irrigates much of Punjab’s farmland and supplies most of the water drunk in its cities. Water tables have fallen for decades in places such as the Quetta Valley, and the rapid spread of solar-powered tube wells, which let farmers pump around the clock at almost no running cost, has added to concern about how fast aquifers are being drawn down.
