The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has warned that the country will approach absolute water scarcity by 2025.
According to a report, Pakistan touched the ‘water stress line’ in 1990 and crossed the ‘water scarcity line’ in 2005. If this situation continues, then chances are high the country will face acute water shortage or drought-like situation in the near future, the study predicts.
To deal with the upcoming situation, there is a need to carry out research at various levels to find out the best possible solutions. “Unfortunately, the PCRWR has no funds to ensure sustainable research,” an official of the science and technology (S&T) ministry says.
The PCRWR is an apex body of the S&T ministry responsible for carrying out, coordinating, organising and promoting research in various aspects of water resources.
According to PCRWR documents, the objective behind the endowment fund is to avoid its dependence on the annual Public-Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and on recurring budget expenses on research. The council has sought Rs50 million for the government.
The fund also aims to focus on water scarcity for agriculture and poverty alleviation by carrying out surveys at various levels without wasting time to obtain PSDP funds, the documents state.
The primary source of funds shall be from the income of the proposed endowment funds and the savings out of the research projects awarded by the international and national donors to the PCRWR with the seed-money of Rs50 million coming from the government.
“The funds will help continue and sustain research activities, which are the need of the hour in a country like Pakistan where rising population is decreasing per capita water availability,” the S&T official said.
The focal person for the S&T ministry, Mohammad Khalid Siddiqui, admitted a scarcity of funds at the PCRWR for which efforts were underway to convince the government to allocate a spare budget.
Goodness ! If PCRWR will get 'funds' will it be able to provide water ? Give them as much as the ask for and immeditely. 2025 is too far away. The way we are wasting and doing nothing to conserve it, it could happen even by 2020. Dams we can not build, can not campaign to conserve water, we could expect the desaster earlier. Four decades on and we could not decide on KBD. Even India is building Dam in Afghanistan (Salma Dam) and financing it too like Chaubahar in Iran. What has gone wrong with our planners ?
2025 is not too far away as even a mid scale dam would take 10 years to complete. Imagine the large one. basically Kalabgah dam is too much politicized by Mush & Co & rest of our politicians. If effective planning is ensured, then we can first focus on dams in Northern Areas in order to save downstream low lying areas & then start work over Kalabagh. But two things are to be guaranteed. 1. The concerns of smaller provinces regarding water logging, risk of floods / drought & share in royalty. 2. Compensation of displaced people on priority basis. If these things are mismanaged I fear there will be civil war.
but which kind of water???
Comments are closed.