Who governs groundwater? Territorial authority, material control and governance in the Indus Basin

Groundwater governance in the Indus Basin involves multiple administrative, hydrological, infrastructural and abstraction spaces that do not necessarily coincide. Using qualitative analysis of national, Punjab and Sindh policy and legislative instruments, this study examines relationships between formal groundwater authority and material groundwater control. Findings show that these spatial arrangements perform different but connected functions, while regulatory reforms seek to link authority, groundwater knowledge and dispersed abstraction. The study provides a contextually grounded account of how functionally different spatial arrangements remain connected through groundwater governance within an inherited conjunctive irrigation system.