Water is a commodity: experts

Say it is vital to reform water governance laws, policies, institutions and infrastructure

ISLAMABAD: Water is a commodity and must be treated as such.

Pakistan cannot continue business as usual water management. It is vital to reform water governance laws, policies, and institutions and infrastructure investments. The National Water Policy 2018 needs to be implemented in letter and spirit.

The state needs to end its monopoly on water; invest immediately & heavily in storage capacity and water enforcement. Pakistan needs to be prepared for India’s attempts of using water as a coercive strategic tool. The state and citizenry need to become water wise.

These were the recommendations put forward by the speakers at the National Dialogue Series Roundtable on “Managing Hyphenated Climate and Water Challenge: A Case Study of Pakistan,” organised by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute here in Islamabad.

In his Keynote Address, Wapda former chairman Engineer Shamsul Mulk said when it comes to water issues, leadership, vision and capacity are very important.

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He said that water security is an important and growing challenge.

“Enemies of Pakistan have disabled and crippled our efforts so much that we have not been able to build any new dams,” he said.

IPRI President Vice Admiral (Retd) Khan Hasham bin Saddique highlighted that objectives of The National Dialogue Series is to debate and proffer policy recommendations on important national issues.

He said that climate change and water security are urgent contemporary challenges whose socio-economic and food security impact on Pakistan would be grave.

However, population growth, urbanisation, and poor water management have caused water scarcity with only 1,100 cubic metres per person water available in Pakistan. Urgent steps are needed to conserve, build new storages, recycle and adapt to new realities. He feared that transboundary water disputes are ticking time bombs which need to be resolved diplomatically.

World Bank Sustainable Development Programme Pakistan Leader Lixin Gu outlined that the availability of water is crucial for Pakistan’s agriculture growth.

He informed that the sector consumes around 95 per cent of the country’s water resources. At the same time, per capita availability of usable water is decreasing, primarily because of population growth, pollution and inefficient use of water resources.

Lixin Gu pointed out that Pakistan is well endowed with water - only 16 countries have more water - but because Pakistan is the world’s sixth most populous country, water availability per person is comparatively low.  

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2019.