Call to adopt desalination technology

KARACHI:

Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor emphasized the urgent need for a national desalination plan to address Pakistan's severe water crisis.

As per the UN's 'Global Water Security 2023 Assessment', Pakistan is critically water insecure, facing a significant decline in water availability per capita over the past 70 years. The IMF reports a drop from 1500 cubic meters per capita in 2009 to 1017 in 2021, with projections indicating a further decline by 2025.

Shakoor highlighted the necessity of constructing new dams and reservoirs, alongside ample desalination of seawater and brackish water, leveraging abundant sunlight to generate electricity for desalination plants. He proposed that desalination in Karachi alone could meet the city's water needs and suggested converting the Thar desert into green farmlands through desalination of saltwater lakes. He identified Hamal, Manchar, and Shakoor lakes in Sindh as potential sources of desalinated water for drinking and agriculture.

He criticized a lobby opposing desalination in Pakistan, citing the closed Cogen plant in Karachi, which was designed to produce 94 megawatts of energy and 14 million liters of drinking water daily. This plant, part of a $600 million Defence Housing Authority project, was shut down before becoming operational for undisclosed reasons. Shakoor urged the Chief of Army Staff to investigate this issue.