RIVER SYSTEM:

RIVER SYSTEM
 Pakistan has one of the largest contiguous irrigation systems in the world, known as
the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS).
 The System comprises six major rivers, that is, the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi,
Sutlej and Kabul, and their catchments. It has three major storage reservoirs, 19
barrages, 12 inter-river link canals, 40 major canal commands and over 120,000
watercourses.
 The Indus River has a total average annual flow of 146 Million Acre Feet (MAF), of
which only 106 MAF of water is diverted to canals. Pakistan receives about 50-80 per
cent of the total average river flows from snow or glacial melt,
 while the remaining from the monsoon rains. Having a very large contiguous
irrigation system,
 Pakistan is also highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change due to its
geo-climatic situation.
 Climate change has posed serious threats associated with increased frequency and
intensity of floods, prolonged droughts and growing water stress and the frightening
possibility of the melting of the Himalayan icecap.
 River Indus is a beautiful long river in Pakistan. Its importance stems from the
fact that it flows through three countries
 China, India and Pakistan.
 Originating from the Tibetan plateau in China, passing through Ladakh in
India.
 It flows through Gilgit and southern parts of Pakistan, traversing across the
length of Pakistan and finally completing its journey by merging into the
Arabian Sea in Karachi.
TRIBUTARIES OF RIVER INDUS
 Left-bank Tributaries

 The Left Bank Tributaries of the Indus River are as follows:

 Zaskar River,
 Suru River,
 Soan River,
 Jhelum River,
 Chenab River,
 Ravi River,
 Beas River,
 Satluj River, and
 Panjnad River.
 CHENAB RIVER,
 Chenab River, river of the Indian subcontinent in northwestern India and
northeastern and eastern Pakistan.
The Chenab is formed by the confluence of two streams, Chandra and Bhaga, in
the western (Punjab) Himalayas in India’s Himachal Pradesh state. It flows west
through Jammu and Kashmir union territory—the Indian-administered portion of
the disputed Kashmir region)—between the steep cliffs of the Siwalik
Range (south) and the Lesser Himalayas (north).
 Turning southwest, it continues into Pakistan, descending from the uplands into
the broad alluvial lowlands of Punjab province.
 After receiving the Jhelum River near Trimmu, the Chenab empties into the Sutlej
River, a tributary of the Indus River. Its total length is about 605 miles (974 km),
and it feeds several irrigation canals.
 JHELUM RIVER
 Jhelum River, river of
northwestern India and northern
and eastern Pakistan.
It constitutes the westernmost of the
five rivers of the Punjab region that
merge with the Indus River in
eastern Pakistan.
 Jhelum, Pakistan: mosqueMosque at
Jhelum, Pakistan.
 The Jhelum rises from a deep spring
at Vernag, in western Jammu and
Kashmir union territory, in
the Indian-administered portion of
the Kashmir region.
 The river meanders northwestward
from the northern slope of the Pir
Panjal Range through the Vale of
Kashmir to Wular Lake at Srinagar,
which controls its flow
 Emerging from the lake, the Jhelum flows westward and crosses the Pir Panjal
in a gorge some 7,000 feet (2,100 metres) deep with almost perpendicular sides.
At Muzaffarabad, the administrative centre of Azad Kashmir in the Pakistani-
administered sector of Kashmir, the Jhelum receives the Kishanganga River
and then bends southward, forming part of the border between Azad Kashmir
to the east and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, to the west.
 The river then flows southward into Punjab province. Near Mangla the Jhelum
breaks through the Outer Himalayas into broad alluvial plains. At the city
of Jhelum the river turns southwestward along the Salt Range to Khushab,
where it again bends south to join the Chenab River near Trimmu. The total
length of the Jhelum is about 450 miles (725 km).
RAVI RIVER
 Ravi River, in northwestern India and northeastern Pakistan, one of
the five tributaries of the Indus River that give the Punjab (meaning
“Five Rivers”) its name.
 It rises in the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh state, India, and flows
west-northwest past Chamba, turning southwest at the boundary
of Jammu and Kashmir union territory.
 The river then flows to the Pakistani border and along it for more than
50 miles (80 km) before entering Pakistan’s Punjab province.
 It flows past Lahore and turns west near Kamalia, emptying into
the Chenab River south of Ahmadpur Sial after a course of about 450
miles (725 km).
SUTLEJ RIVER
 Sutlej River, longest of the five tributaries of the Indus River that give the
Punjab (meaning “Five Rivers”) region its name.
 It rises on the north slope of the Himalayas in Lake La’nga in
southwestern Tibet, at an elevation above 15,000 feet (4,600 metres).
 Flowing northwestward and then west-southwestward through
Himalayan gorges, it enters and crosses the Indian state of Himachal
Pradesh before beginning its flow through the Punjab plain near
Nangal, Punjab state.
 Continuing southwestward in a broad channel, it receives the Beas
River and forms 65 miles (105 km) of the India-Pakistan border before
entering Pakistan and flowing another 220 miles (350 km) to join
the Chenab River west of Bahawalpur. The combined rivers then form
the Panjnad, the link between the Five Rivers and the Indus.
BEAS RIVER
 Beas River, river in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab states, northwestern India. It is
one of the five rivers that give the Punjab (“Five Rivers”) its name.
 The Beas rises at an elevation of 14,308 feet (4,361 metres) at Rohtang Pass in
the western (Punjab) Himalayas (a section of the vast Himalayas mountain range), in
central Himachal Pradesh.
 From there it flows south through the Kullu Valley, receiving tributaries from the
flanking mountains, and then turns west to flow past Mandi into the Kangra Valley.
 After crossing the valley, the Beas enters Punjab state and veers south and then
southwest to its confluence with the Sutlej River at Harike after a course of about 290
miles (470 km). The Beas River was the approximate eastern limit of Alexander the
Great’s invasion of India in 326 BCE.
Right-bank Tributaries

 The Right Bank Tributaries of the Indus River are as follows:

 Shyok River
 Gilgit River
 Hunza River
 Swat River
 Kunnar River
 Kurram River
 Gomal River
 Tochi River
 Kabul River
KABUL RIVER
 Kabul River, river in eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, 435
miles (700 km) long, of which 350 miles (560 km) are in Afghanistan.
 Rising in the Sanglākh Range 45 miles (72 km) west of Kabul city, it flows east
past Kabul and Jalālābād, north of the Khyber Pass into Pakistan, and
past Peshawar;
 it joins the Indus River northwest of Islamabad. The river has four major
tributaries—the Lowgar, the Panjshēr, the Konar (Kunar), and the Alīngār.
 GOMAL RIVER
 Gomal River, river that rises in eastern Afghanistan near Sarwāndī on
the Khumbur Khūlē Range and enters western Pakistan near Domandi,
being joined there by the Kundar River.
 Further joined by the Wāna Toi and Zhob rivers, it falls into the Indus
River just south of Dera Ismāīl Khān after a course of 150 miles (240 km)..
 KURRAM RIVER

 It is located in the northwest of Pakistan and more specifically in central

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