Tag: Water

TOKYO - The operator of Japan's crippled nuclear power plant said on Tuesday it had found water with 5 million times the legal limit of radioactivity as it struggles for a fourth week to contain the world's biggest nuclear disaster in quarter of a century.
Underlining the concern over spreading radiation, the government said it was considering imposing radioactivity restrictions on seafood for the first time in the crisis after contaminated fish were found in seas well south of

OFUNATO - Japan on Monday started to dump more than 10,000 tons of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific as part of emergency operations to stabilise its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The last-resort measure came after the Bank of Japan said business confidence had plummeted since the earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11, plunging the country into its worst crisis since World War II. The UN atomic watchdog chief Yukiya Amano, meanwhile, said that the

ISLAMABAD - Bumper Kharif crops are expected this year as the Advisory Committee of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) on Thursday concluded that there was no likely shortage of irrigation water during the April 1 to September 30 period and total water availability would remain around 118 million acre feet (MAF).
Briefing reporters, IRSA Chairman Rao Irshad Ali Khan said provinces would get water releases as per the water accord, as the season was to start with a carry

ISLAMABAD - Capital city is facing acute water shortage as the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has so far failed to supply 150 million gallons per day (MGD) to meet the daily needs of over one million consumers.
"CDA only has the capacity to supply 60 MGD, 40 percent of which goes to waste because of outdated supply lines. The wastage is equivalent to the total storage of Simly Dam," a CDA senior official confided to Pakistan Today.
He said the federal government had so

HONG KONG - The world's highest hotel opened its doors in Hong Kong on Tuesday, housed in the city's tallest skyscraper and offering unrivalled panoramic views of the world famous Victoria Harbour.
Towering some 490 metres (1,600 feet) above the bustling, chaotic streets of the Southern Chinese city, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel is making a grand comeback after temporarily closing in 2008.
Visitors peered out of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the 118th floor of the International

TOKYO/SENDAI - Highly radioactive water has leaked from a reactor at Japan's crippled nuclear complex, the plant's operator said on Monday, while environmental group Greenpeace said it had detected high levels of radiation outside an exclusion zone. Reflecting growing unease about efforts to control the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi complex, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) had appealed to French companies for help, the Kyodo news agency said. The plant, 240 km north of

WASHINGTON - Citizens of Lahore are among more than one billion urban residents who will face serious water shortages by 2050 as climate change worsens effects of urbanisation, with Indian cities among the worst hit, a study said Monday. The shortage threatens sanitation in some of the world's fastest-growing cities but also poses risks for wildlife if cities pump in water from outside, said the article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study found that under

KARACHI - Provincial Electric Power Minister and Adviser on Oil and Gas Shazia Marri took serious notice of the shortage of potable water and other facilities in Karachi on Monday and directed the officials concerned to address the citizens' woes as soon as possible. Marri ordered the action after hearing the complaints from all over Sindh at the Chief Minister's House Complaint Cell. She directed the officials concerned to ensure uninterrupted supply of drinking water to the citizens

KARACHI - The representative body of the Consumers Association of Pakistan, in collaboration with the Bahria University, recently organised a seminar at the Karachi campus auditorium of the Bahria University to commemorate the World Water Day 2011 with the theme 'Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenges'.
The programme was attended by a large number of people from different walks of life. Moreover, scholars and speakers presented their papers and delivered speeches on

KARACHI - Either it's the tropical cyclone emerging from Arabian Sea or floods from the River Indus, Thatta is perhaps the most vulnerable city of Sindh. Thousands were displaced from their homes after the floodwater swept Thatta; in the aftermath of the floods, acute water shortage has gripped this backward district of Pakistan.
The situation is such that in many areas of the district, people have been forced to consume contaminated water and inevitably fall sick. Many do not

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani reappointed Kamal Majidullah as special assistant to the prime minister on water resources and agriculture according to a Cabinet Division notification on Friday.
Majidullah has been appointed in Management Scale-I (MP-I) with immediate effect, under rule 4(6) of the Rules of Business, 1973. A source, however, told Pakistan Today that Majidullah had been appointed purely on political grounds and he had no professional experience or

LAHORE - Punjab Assembly (PA) Speaker Rana Iqbal, taking notice of non-completion of the water filtration plants scheme, announced on Friday that a committee will be formed to probe into the matter.
He said that members of provincial assembly (MPA) should know about the details related to the scheme and fixed Wednesday, March 30, as the date for holding an open debate on the issue. Pakistan People's Party (PPP) MPA Ashraf Sohna challenged the Punjab law minister for declaring the

HAFIZABAD - A sum of Rs 100 million is being spent on the improvement of water channels in Hafizabad. It was disclosed in an inaugural ceremony of remodeling of Shori Manika minor near Pindi Bhattian. Member National Assembly (MNA) Chaudhry Liaqat Abbas Bhatti inaugurated the minor to release water and said with the completion of this scheme, the water supply to the agricultural land of eight villages would be improved.
CHILDREN TO BE ENROLLED IN SCHOOLS: Under the Universal

KARACHI - Many small schemes at the Ghotki Miner Canal project, Phuleli Canal Rehabilitation, Nara Irrigation System, Renni Canal and modernization of Sukkur Barrage have been completed and are ready to be inaugurated by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, said Sindh Irrigation & Drainage Development Authority (SIDA) Project Director Ehsan Leghari on Thursday at a meeting at the CM House to discuss various irrigation development projects being built by the authority.
Leghari said

GUJRANWALA - Only 35 percent people in Pakistan's 7th largest city have been provided by Gujranwala Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) with clean drinking water while most of them are forced to intake contaminated water owing to out-of-date infrastructure of the water supply system. A survey report revealed that the WASA could only deliver water supply services to 35 percent of the population while only 70 percent of the masses in the city area have the civic amenity of sewerage

TOKYO - Japan estimated the cost of the damage from its devastating earthquake and tsunami could top $300 billion as authorities in Tokyo warned that babies should not be given tap water because of radiation from a crippled nuclear plant. The first official estimate since the March 11 disaster covers damage to roads, homes, factories and infrastructure, and dwarfs losses from both the 1995 Kobe quake and Hurricane Katrina that swept through New Orleans in 2005, making it the world's

ISLAMABAD - The fast pace of urbanisation is a big challenge for the provision of safe drinking water in Pakistan thus the country is confronting serious challenge of depleting water resources.
Environment Director General Javaid Ali Khan said this while addressing a national workshop to commemorate World Water Day. The workshop was organised by the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), UN Habitat, Pakistan Institute for