Water reforms termed key to development

Expert highlights rising reliance on groundwater due to unpredictable rain patterns

LAHORE:

With increasing impacts of climate change, Punjab is experiencing unpredictable rainfall patterns, which is increasing reliance on groundwater resources, an expert highlighted on Monday.

International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Director Dr Mohsin Hafeez was addressing a capacity-building workshop highlighting the role of water governance in fostering prosperity and sustainable development in Punjab.

The IWMI Pakistan organised the workshop to mark World Environment Day under the UK Aid-funded Water Resource Accountability in Pakistan (WRAP) Programme’s component covering climate resilient solutions for improving water governance (CRS-IWaG), through which water governance reforms will be introduced in Punjab and at the federal level.

Dr Hafeez, the IWMI Water, Food and Ecosystems Director, said, “Through climate-smart interventions, the IWMI Pakistan aims to guide farmers, industrialists, urban water users and other stakeholders on sustainable water use, so that water scarcity can be addressed.

” He said the implementation progress of the Punjab-specific interventions introduced under the programme includes a robust capacity building programme for government departments and other stakeholders at the provincial and Okara district levels along with the installation of conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) automated groundwater divers and soil moisture sensors in Okara for groundwater monitoring and assessing crop water requirements.

The programme also includes the development of a water accounting (WA+) and irrigation demand management (IDM) framework, geotagging of groundwater monitoring sites for piezometer installation in Okara through principal component analysis (PCA), and approaching the academia in Punjab to develop a consortium of societies on environment and agriculture for students’ capacity building.

An early success has been a notification by the Punjab Irrigation Department confirming the adoption of the PCA methodology introduced by the IWMI under the programme.

The field teams of the department have been instructed to install piezometer wells at locations identified through the PCA.

The department’s Strategic Planning and Reform Unit (SPRU) Director for Social and Environment Management Dr Muhammad Javed briefed the participants on the role of water governance for prosperity and sustainable development in Punjab.

Punjab On Farm Water Management (OFWM) Director General Malik Muhammad Akram said, “We need to benefit from each drop of water, each inch of land and each unit of electricity.

"An integrated approach will allow government departments, research institutions and academia to work together for improved water governance in Punjab. There is also a need to bring more area under cultivation, especially the Pothohar, Thal, and Cholistan areas.”