Tube Well Sharing Agreement (Pakistan)

A Tube Well Sharing Agreement in Pakistan sets out the mutual obligations the parties accept and the terms that govern their dealings.

The Canal and Drainage Act 1873 grants the Government of Pakistan extensive powers over the use and distribution of water from government-owned canals, watercourses, and drains. Under Section 23 of the Canal and Drainage Act 1873, the Canal Officer has authority to regulate the distribution of water from any watercourse, and users of tube well water connected to a government watercourse must comply with the Canal Officer's orders regarding water scheduling and distribution turns (known as 'warabandi' in Punjab and Sindh). Tube wells that draw from groundwater rather than government canals are subject to different regulation — primarily the provincial Ground Water Acts including the Punjab Ground Water Act 2024 and the Sindh Ground Water Management Act.

Pakistan has one of the world's largest irrigation systems — the Indus Basin Irrigation System — covering approximately 16 million hectares of agricultural land across Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan. The system depends on a combination of canal water delivered through the Indus Waters Treaty 1960 (between Pakistan and India, mediated by the World Bank) and groundwater extracted by approximately 1.2 million tube wells across the country. Agricultural tube wells in Pakistan are primarily powered by electricity supplied by WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority) or FESCO/LESCO/HESCO (provincial electricity distribution companies) under subsidised agricultural tariffs, or by diesel engines.

The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), operating under the Ministry of Science and Technology, monitors groundwater levels across Pakistan and has issued repeated warnings about the depletion of aquifers in Pakistani Punjab and Sindh. The Indus Waters Treaty 1960 allocates the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan and the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India, but does not directly regulate groundwater extraction. Provincial authorities have progressively introduced groundwater regulation to address over-exploitation.

The provincial Agriculture Departments — Punjab Agriculture Department, Sindh Agriculture Department, KPK Agriculture Department — administer tube well installation permits and electricity connection applications through their respective channels. Tube well owners in Punjab must register with the Punjab Irrigation Department and comply with the Punjab Minor Canal Act 1905 and the Punjab Ground Water Act 2024 regarding extraction limits and metering requirements.

The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) and the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) have documented that over-extraction of groundwater in Pakistani Punjab has lowered the water table by one to two metres per year in several districts, threatening the long-term viability of tube well irrigation for the Rabi wheat crop and the Kharif rice and cotton crops that underpin Pakistan's agricultural exports through Karachi Port and Port Qasim.

A Tube Well Sharing Agreement in Pakistan is needed whenever two or more landowners, tenant farmers, or households share a single tube well for irrigation or water supply purposes, and the parties wish to formalise their rights, responsibilities, and cost-sharing arrangements in writing to prevent disputes.

A Tube Well Sharing Agreement is required when neighbouring farmers in Punjab's agricultural heartland — the districts of Faisalabad, Sargodha, Gujranwala, and Sheikhupura — share a tube well that serves multiple plots of agricultural land. Without a written agreement, disputes arise over water turns (warabandi), electricity costs, pump maintenance costs, and the rights of a landowner who contributed to the tube well's installation versus a subsequent purchaser of neighbouring land who claims shared water rights.

A Tube Well Sharing Agreement is needed when a tube well owner allows a tenant farmer (muzara) occupying land under a tenancy agreement to use the tube well for crop irrigation, and the parties wish to specify whether water supply is included in the tenancy rent or charged separately, how pump operating hours are allocated, and who bears the cost of diesel or electricity during power outages.

A Tube Well Sharing Agreement is required in peri-urban areas — housing colonies, rural subdivisions (abadis), and new residential schemes on converted agricultural land in Punjab and Sindh — where a single tube well supplies domestic water to multiple households before a formal municipal water supply connection from the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) or the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) is established.

A Tube Well Sharing Agreement is needed when one party installs a new tube well on their land and agrees to extend water supply to a neighbour in exchange for a contribution to installation costs, ongoing electricity bills, or a periodic water charge. The agreement documents the financial arrangements and prevents the installing party from unilaterally withdrawing water supply after the neighbouring party has invested in connecting infrastructure.

A Tube Well Sharing Agreement is required when a tube well serves both agricultural and domestic uses — for example, irrigating fields during the Rabi (winter, wheat) and Kharif (summer, rice, cotton) cropping seasons while also supplying drinking water to the farmhouse and village community (chak). The agreement must specify priority of use during water scarcity periods, such as peak summer demand.

A valid Tube Well Sharing Agreement in Pakistan under the Canal and Drainage Act 1873 and provincial water laws must contain the following essential elements to be enforceable and effective in preventing disputes.

Party Identification and Land Particulars: Full legal names, NADRA CNIC numbers, and addresses of all parties sharing the tube well, along with the Khasra numbers, Khata numbers, and mauza (village) names from the Revenue Records maintained by the Patwari under the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act 1967. The land ownership status of each party — owner, tenant, or mortgagee — must be stated, as water rights may vary depending on the nature of occupancy.

Tube Well Location and Technical Specifications: The precise location of the tube well (latitude/longitude, GPS coordinates if available, or description by reference to the nearest canal distributary or road), depth of the bore, pump capacity in horsepower (HP) and flow rate in gallons per hour or cusecs, motor type (electric or diesel), and the electricity meter number registered with the relevant DISCO (distribution company such as FESCO, MEPCO, LESCO, or HESCO).

Water Allocation and Turn Schedule (Warabandi): The allocation of water turns among the sharing parties — the number of hours per day or per week each party is entitled to use the tube well, the schedule of turns (morning, afternoon, evening), and the warabandi rotation during peak demand periods such as sowing season (April–May for Kharif crops) and harvest (October–November). In Punjab, formal warabandi is administered by the Punjab Irrigation Department under the Punjab Minor Canal Act 1905.

Electricity and Operating Cost Sharing: A clear formula for sharing electricity bills (typically based on each party's proportion of water use), diesel costs where an engine is used as backup, and the mechanism for billing — whether the bill is divided monthly, quarterly, or based on metered sub-meters installed at each user's connection point.

Maintenance and Repair Responsibilities: The obligations of each party for routine maintenance (lubrication, filter cleaning, valve replacement), major repairs (pump replacement, borehole rehabilitation), and emergency repairs. The agreement should specify a cost-sharing formula for capital expenditure on repairs — typically proportional to each party's water use entitlement — and the decision-making process when major expenditure is disputed.

New Connections and Capacity Limits: Whether additional parties can connect to the tube well in the future, the capacity limits of the existing installation, and the lead party's right to refuse additional connections that would reduce existing users' water pressure or supply reliability.

Dispute Resolution: Most tube well disputes in Pakistan are settled through local mechanisms — the Panchayat (village council), the office of the Assistant Commissioner, or the Revenue Court (before the Revenue Officer under the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act 1967). The agreement should specify the mechanism for resolving disputes over water turns, cost allocation, or maintenance obligations, and may include referral to the Canal Officer under Section 23 of the Canal and Drainage Act 1873 for formal water distribution disputes.

Forms-legal.com provides this Tube Well Sharing Agreement (Pakistan) template to assist farmers, landowners, and households in documenting their water-sharing arrangements. The template reflects the Canal and Drainage Act 1873, West Pakistan Land Revenue Act 1967, and provincial water laws. Parties in complex agricultural water-sharing situations should consult a local Advocate and the Punjab Irrigation Department or relevant provincial irrigation authority for formal warabandi determination.

Under the Transfer of Property Act 1882, Section 54 governs sale of immovable property in Pakistan. The Registration Act 1908 requires registration of instruments affecting immovable property exceeding PKR 100. The Punjab Rented Premises Act 2009, Sindh Rented Premises Ordinance 1979, and equivalent provincial laws govern tenancies. The Stamp Act 1899 imposes stamp duty on property instruments. District Revenue Offices maintain land records (fard, mutation, registry).