HYDROLOGY, SCIENTISTS, AND WATER INFRASTRUCTURE IN PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN

I have been to Pakistan twice and once to Afghanistan and Nepal for the USGS. I am working on a U.S. State Department funded project to help develop water databases, a data warehouse, and a national data standards committee in Pakistan. I went to Afghanistan to teach part of a water-resources course to about 30 professionals, focusing on data storage, GPS usage, and Google Maps & Earth.

The Hydrology, Science, and Water Resources infrastructure, both physical and organizational in these two countries are quite different from what we are familiar with in the United States. The physiography, land use, and hydrology of Pakistan and Afghanistan are similar to California and Nevada, respectively. Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world. Pakistan’s largest city is Karachi, with 16 million people living in around the city, making it the world’s second largest city proper behind Mumbai, India.. The Indus River system has several reservoirs larger than Lake Roosevelt behind Grand Coulee Dam. The Indus River valley is the largest irriagtion system in the world [35 million acres]. The most severe known water-quality problems are high concentrations of bacteria, nutrients, and arsenic. The Pakistan Ministry of Health estimates that 600 children younger than 5 years old die every day due to bacterial contamination and that most of these deaths likely are water-quality related. Many city water systems are not pressurized 24 hours a day and water is not chlorinated; therefore, the public water supply is susceptible to contamination. Pakistan’s Water and Power agency employs 150,000 people and delivers power to most citizens in the country.

Scientists in both countries were eager for our help and eager to learn. I am looking forward to future trips there and helping the Pakistanis develop a national water data base for many of their government agencies. 18 government agencies have agreed to share data and a data warehouse we are building.