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Tremendous potential for the development of Pakistan's water resources requires services of the engineers to plan, design, construct and utilize irrigation water facilities efficiently. The water losses taking place during conveyance and application phases cause water shortage on one hand and water logging conditions on the other. To meet the growing demands for efficient water resources management, the Department of Irrigation and Drainage forms an important component of the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology in producing graduates in the field of Agricultural Engineering. These agricultural Engineers, by the virtue of their special training, are capable of working both with agricultural scientists and engineers of other disciplines.
The department has taken a number of steps in order to fulfill program mission and objectives (described in the subsequent section). A large number of laboratories and computing facilities are available for the students. The Department has Fluid Flow Systems, Soil Mechanics, Hydrology, Irrigation, Water Quality and GIS and Remote Sensing laboratories. More laboratory equipments, under JICA program, have been purchased and installed in the labs in order to improve Practical or Laboratory component of the program. The department offers subjects in the area of Fluid Mechanics, Irrigation and Drainage, Hydrology, Soil Mechanics, Water Management, Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Pumps and Tube wells and GIS and Remote Sensing applications in water resources management.
The trained graduates are working successfully in the various fields such as water management programs of the country, projects related to water resources development, pressurized irrigation projects, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, PARC, PCRWR, IWASRI, NESPAK, HALCROW, WB, ADB etc. At the moment, the Department is taking the following steps to meet the future needs of trained manpower and problem oriented research at desirable professional standards.
Issues |
Planning |
Water Saving |
Water saving studies such as furrow-ridge, furrow bed, sprinkler and drip irrigation techniques, perforated pipe irrigation system are being developed and tested at field level |
Development of Equipment (Sprinkler, Drippers and other system components at local level) |
The pressurized irrigation systems have high initial cost because of imported components. Studies are in progress to develop these components locally. |
Development of Farm Water Storage Reservoirs |
Under constrained availability of water supplies at the farm, saving of any excess water resulting from heavy rains may contribute to overcome the shortage of water. Therefore, studies are underway to determine the excess water availability during cropping season. |
Reuse of Drainage Effluent |
The effluents of storm drains as well as industry effluents create many hazards to drainage and degrades groundwater qualities. Efficient use of drainage effluent through treatment and management may help solving some of the water shortages problems. Therefore, studies are undergoing for efficient use of drainage effluent for crop production. |
Ground Water Recharge |
Excessive groundwater pumping more than replenishment has caused continuous lowering of groundwater levels, raising secondary salinisation and increased pumpage cost. A new technology of "Aquifer Storage and Recovery" (ASR) is being investigated and demonstrated to the farmers at farmer's fields to recharge groundwater. Moreover Rain Water Harvesting techniques for Groundwater recharge are under development phase. |
Precision Agriculture |
Uniform application of agricultural inputs result in under and over application and also cause offsite transport of agricultural chemicals. Studies on precision agriculture are underway to apply water and agricultural inputs precisely. UAF has recently selected to establish "Centre of Advanced Studies in Precision Agriculture" |
Ground Water Modeling |
A funded technology transfer project "Demonstration of Groundwater Model to Simulate Pumping Effects on Faisalabad Water Supply Scheme" is in progress for river Chenab bed aquifer to simulate management scenario for sustainable exploitation of groundwater resources. |
Remote Sensing and GIS for Water Resources Management |
A funded project on use of remote sensing and GIS is underway to assess performance of irrigation system |
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