SAARC Chamber official stresses water storage capacity

Says Pakistan will face severe crisis if remedial measures not taken

LAHORE: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Senior Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik said on Wednesday that Pakistan needs to expand its water storage by the year 2025 to avert the looming water crisis.

He said Pakistan needs to meet the expected demand of 165 billion cubic meters as population growth remains a challenge for the water-stressed country.

Talking with media, Malik emphasised the need to focus attention on water wastage as he termed insufficient storage capacity one of the major reasons behind the increase in extreme weather events like severe flooding and prolonged droughts. He feared that the situation will get worse in the coming years due to lack of storage capacity.



“Our underground water is being contaminated and if timely steps are not taken, I fear we would not be able to drink clean water in coming years,” he said. “Sixty per cent of the groundwater in a river basin supporting more than 750 million people in Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh is not drinkable or usable for irrigation.”

He stressed on policies and actions for climate change mitigation, technology transfer, financing and investment mechanism, education, training and awareness, monitoring, assessment and management of impact and risks due to climate change.

Pakistan would require $10.70 billion per annum as the cost of adaptation to climate change and mitigation cost would range from $8 billion to $17 billion, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2018.

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