Natural resources

• Renewable
- Can be recycled/reused
- Won't run out if managed with care
- Two types: Continuous and Sustainable

Continuous
Capable of being used over and over again
e.g. water, sunlight, wind power, tidal power, geothermal power

Sustainable
- Their value may be reduced overtime
- e.g. vegetation, fish wildlife, soils
- If forests are cut down and not replaced the result may be harmful

Non-renewable
- Limited quantity (will run out)
- Fossil fuels and minerals

Resources
- Human resources, such as labour, skills, machinery and economic resources

Hydrological Cyle
Evaporation
When the heat of the sun changes the water into water vapor to form a liquid to a gaseous state

Transpiration
When the excess water of the plant diffuses from the underside of the leaf

Evapotranspiration
When the process of evaporation and transpiration occur at the same time

Condensation
The physical process of the transition of a substance from vapor to liquid
Occurs when vapors rise into the atmosphere and cool

Precipitation
The deposition of moisture on the surface of the earth from the atmospheric sources including rainfall, snowfall, dew and hail
storms

Surface Runoff
When the rain water flows over the surface as rivers and streams, draining into lakes and the sea. Rest of the water is utilized
by plants, or soaks into the ground

Infiltration/Aquifer
When the water of the rain seeps (absorbs) into the ground.

Water may be held for short periods in vegetation and for much longer periods in ice and snow or as ground water in the rocks

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 Water may be held for short periods in vegetation and for much longer periods in ice and snow or as ground water in the rocks
themselves.

Water Table
- The top level of ground water
- Has great seasonal and regional fluctuations.
- Very low in summers, except for when it rains
- Higher in the rainy season
- Lower in the dry season

Ground Water
- The underground storage of water collected under the layers of soil

- Obtained using Shallow wells, tube wells, and the karez system

- Easier in the foothills of the mountains

- Why? : The surface run-off is greater, the level of the water-table is higher

- Harder to obtain ground water in deserts

Why? : high rate of evaporation, extremely low water-table

Advantages
Extremely useful where canal irrigation is not possible and Ground water can be sweet/saline
rainfall is variable and scanty (e.g. Balochistan)
Useful In big cities where there is a shortage of water due
to a growing population (e.g. Karachi), people use ground
water to meet domestic needs
Disadvantages
It gradually become more saline as the distance from recharge
sources increases
In industrial cities (e.g. Karachi) ground water may not be
suitable for human consumption, due to seepage of toxic
chemicals, sewage or sea-water into the ground
In industrial cities (e.g. Karachi) ground water may not be
suitable for human consumption, due to seepage of toxic
chemicals, sewage or sea-water into the ground
Needs to be tested in labs before use

Uses OF Water

(1) Domestic use (8%)

- Drinking/cooking/washing/sanitation

• Essential for survival of population

• Healthy people are more productive at their workspace and contribute to more economic development

(2) Industrial use (23%)

- Water essential for all industries
- Availibility of water is an important factor when choosing locations for industries

- Wet-point locations are preferred

In Pakistan heavy industries are located near rivers, or close to the Arabian sea

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 Tanning industry
For washing, dyeing and etc

Food processing industry

For preparing juices, squashes, syrups, beverages and etc

Hydroelectric power stations

Enough volume of water is the main requirement for HEP generation
Pressure of water is used from steep slopes which makes hydro-turbines move

• Important for economic development

• Provide employment
• Meet local demand for industrial goods
• Provide electricity for domestic and commercial users
• Export of industrial goods earns foreign exchange and contributes to GPD AND GNP

(3) Agricultural use (69% of surface water and groundwater)

• Main income-generating sector of Pakistan

• Crops meet domestic demand for food and crops, contributing nearly 20% to GDP
• 40% of labor force employed
• Agro based industries use agricultural raw materials where its finished products are exported and earn foreign exchange for
pakistan increasing GNP (gross national product) and generating income for country

1. Irrigation
- Definition: Artificial supply of water to the land
- Very important in arid regions
- Also used in many humid regions to improve yields
- Agriculture mainly depends on irrigation
- 75% of the agricultural land is under irrigation

Importance
- Very important in arid regions
- Most areas experience arid/semi-arid conditions (aridity increasing North to South)

- Also used in many humid regions to improve yields

- Agriculture mainly depends on irrigation
- 75% of the agricultural land is under irrigation

- Rainfall is ineffective in Pakistan

• High variability in distribution and timing
• Monsoon winds bring most of the rainfall but are extremely variable in timing and distribution

• Long dry spells after rain

• Rain mostly occurs in heavy showers that is of little use to farmers because the land either absorbs too much water of
the water drains away too quickly

• Low amount of rainfall in some areas

E.g. annual rainfall is low in the whole of Sindh (less than 250 mm), most of Balochistan (except for high-altitude areas)
and a large part of Punjab

• Pakistan experiences small number of rainy days

Most areas (esp. south) experience less than 10 rainy days per year

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 Most areas (esp. south) experience less than 10 rainy days per year

• Spells of high temperatures increase rate of evapotranspiration

Factors leading to development of Canal irrigation

- Soft soil and flat land makes digging of canals easier (E.g. Indus plain)
- Southward slopes of rivers makes the construction of canals easier as the water flows southwards naturally
- Cheap labour and Availibility of cement reduces the cost of canal construction
- Huge quantities of water from monsoon rainfall and melting of snow during summer season can be stored in reservoirs
- Irregular supply of water in the rivers is regulated by construction of dams and barrages
- Canal system irrigates a vast area. Even the deserts have been made productive
- Canal irrigation uses millions of gallons of water that would flow into the Arabian sea

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