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Abstract
Effective monitoring of groundwater resources is crucial in the context of changing global climate conditions. In the Punjab Province of Pakistan, groundwater monitoring is currently ongoing under the Punjab Irrigation Department; however, this faces challenges in precise monitoring due to reliance on conventional methodologies and insufficient community participation. For holistic and scientific monitoring of groundwater, a project entitled “Improving groundwater management to enhance agriculture and farming livelihoods in Pakistan,” funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), has been implemented- nearing completion- at pilot sites in Punjab province along with other two provinces. Automatic data loggers have been installed in the pilot study sites within the Lower Bari Doab Canal (LBDC) region to get continuous records of groundwater levels and quality. Onsite training and awareness sessions have been arranged to involve and sensitize local communities about changing trends of groundwater levels and quality. This paper provides an overview of the existing monitoring network in the Punjab province of Pakistan, the limitations of the current system, and the innovative enhancements introduced through the ACIAR project. It has been observed that groundwater level has dropped significantly in the study area due to over-exploitation.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Ghulam Zakir-Hassan, Saleem Akhtar, Mobushir Riaz Khan, Jehangir F. Punthakey, Saira Akhtar, Faiz Raza Hassan, Ghulam Shabir
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