In this study, a model was created with the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) System and used to explore the benefits of altering the operations of Tarbela Dam in terms of reliability, resilience, and vulnerability (RRV) for the three objectives of irrigation supply, hydropower generation, and flood control. Sensitivity analysis and logical reasoning with operators identified a feasible operational rule curve for testing using the integrated performance analysis. The reservoir performance for the altered operations was compared to the baseline performance following current operations for both historical and projected future climate and water demand conditions. Key simulation results show that the altered operations strategy tested under historical climate and water demand conditions would increase RRV by 17%, 67%, and 7%, respectively, for the water supply objective and 34%, 346%, and 22%, respectively, for hydropower generation. For projected future conditions, the proposed operations strategy would increase RRV by 7%, 219%, and 11%, respectively, for water supply and 19%, 136%, and 13% for hydropower generation. Synthesis of the results suggests significant benefits for reliability and resilience of water supply and hydropower are possible with slight operational adjustments. Overall, the integrated performance analysis supports the need to develop an optimized operations rule for Tarbela to adapt to projected climate and demand scenarios.

The basic objective of the irrigation reforms, i.e., participatory irrigation management in Pakistan, was a better economic and financial management of irrigation service delivery, equity in water distribution, and better environmental outcome. The aim of this study was to assess the optimism with the reforms package that has actually delivered expected outcomes. For this purpose, this study used a cross-sectional dataset of 567 farmers in five selected Area Water Boards (AWBs) of Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. Important institutional features including compliance, adaptiveness, clarity of objectives, good interaction, and appropriate scale, were modeled through structural equation modeling on the overall performance assessment of water use associations from a farmer’s perspective. Results suggested that clear objectives, adaptiveness, scale, and compliance show a strong relationship with an overall assessment of performance. While good interaction has not impacted significantly with an overall performance assessment. The impact of institutional feature on the overall performance assessment depends on the nature of performance considered, e.g., drivers of the economic performance of a farmer organization may not be the same as the drivers of its environmental performance. Besides offering insights on specific drivers that matter for a particular dimension of the institutional performance of farmer organizations, the study suggests that participatory irrigation management institutions are still in infancy even after decades of their introduction, and just creating institutions is neither mandatory nor sufficient. Furthermore, the institutional designs are considered critical for the success of participatory institutions. Therefore, there is a need to consider the conformity of the strategies with the existing norms and compliance to the on-going procedures.

Contrary to developed countries, developing countries have been observed to have an increased reliance on a diversity of water supply options to meet their daily demands, where formal supply systems are incapable of fulfilling the daily needs of consumers. In filling a demand-supply gap, informal supply systems are increasingly being associated with issues of long-term sustainability, higher consumer cost, and inequity. Emerging formal-informal dynamics in developing countries require a thorough understanding of complex human-water interactions for policy direction, in order to best support the advancement of urban water sustainability. Accordingly, system archetypes offer a platform to explain the behaviors of complex systems. This paper identifies common system archetypes that define urban waterscapes in the developing world. In this way, Causal Loop Diagrams (CLDs) are used to present relationships and identify common archetypes that define the complexity of urban water supply systems in Hyderabad, Pakistan. These archetypes include ‘fixes that fail’, ‘shifting the burden’, ‘limits to growth/success’ and ‘growth and underinvestment’. These archetypes demonstrate that increases in formal infrastructure capacity and the number of informal suppliers to increase supply reliability are symptomatic solutions, restrained by financial and technical resources, and thus have unintended consequences. Further, a number of policy instruments are discussed as leverage points to achieve financial sustainability of formal systems. This paper emphasizes the need of a policy framework for informal supply system in national and regional water policies to ensure its service reliability as a short to medium term solution.

Rapidly growing population, unplanned urbanization, aging and lack of infrastructure, and climate change inhibit communities meeting the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) related to urban water service provision. Despite planning of water infrastructure solutions, the implementation has been limited due to financial constraints and lack of evidence-based decision-making guidance. This study investigates the trade-offs and integrated actions of water infrastructure improvements and financial management to enhance water supply service and system sustainability in tandem using a case study metropolitan area in Pakistan. This study employs a System Dynamics modeling approach to support the analysis of complex feedback interactions among water system improvements and financial management in evaluating water supply coverage and availability, revenue water, and cost recovery. The findings suggest synergies/trade-offs between system augmentation/maintenance and water tariff increase for a city to co-achieve effective water services and financial sustainability in pursuit of the UN SDG 6.

The Water Apportionment Accord (WAA) of Pakistan was instituted in 1991 to allocate Indus River water among Pakistan’s provinces. This paper assesses the performance of the WAA in terms of the accord’s ability to meet the barrages’ and environmental demands in the Lower Indus Basin. Use of metrics as assessment tools in water security and climate adaptation is an important field, with the potential to inform sustainable management policy. Reliability, resiliency, and vulnerability are used as indicators to define the system’s performance against supply. The results indicate from the pre-Accord period to the post-Accord period, the reliability of Guddu Barrage (the upstream-most barrage in the study) is not changed. However, at Sukkur and Kotri, the most downstream barrage in the study, reliability has significantly decreased. The Results reveal the high vulnerability of the Indus delta in Rabi season when the flows decline and the majority of the water at the Kotri Barrage is diverted.