Water storage capacity falls 30% since 1976

Expert for building big dams, adopting modern farming techniques.

FAISALABAD:

Storage capacity of water reservoirs in Pakistan has dropped by 30% since 1976 as the level, which stood at 16 million acre feet (MAF) more than three decades ago, is currently at 10 MAF because of increasing silt, posing a threat to water and food security.

Punjab Water Council President Chaudhry Hamid Malhi stated this while presiding over a seminar on water and food security, held in connection with the World Water Day at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) on Thursday.

Malhi stressed the need for building big dams in a bid to tackle water scarcity as the country had been placed among water-scarce countries.

He said people, who are devastated by floods in monsoon season, could be saved by constructing large dams, adding the stored water could also be used in droughts, which would restrict losses to life and agriculture.

Malhi criticised the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which gave control of three rivers to India, saying it had added to the woes of people of Pakistan.

He asked UAF scientists to transfer technology and research work to the farmers, especially those relating to water issues, for minimising consumption of water and conserving the resource for coming generations.

UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad said per capita water availability in the country had dropped by 80 per cent as it was more than 5,000 cubic metres in 1947 and now stood at 1,100 cubic metres.

He called for maximising crop productivity with the use of drip irrigation technology and by discouraging farmers from continuing with old methods.

Faculty of Agricultural Engineering Dean Dr Rai Niaz, while speaking on over-exploitation of groundwater, said one million tube wells were running across the country, leading to a decline in groundwater level. He called for conserving water with the use of drip irrigation and bed plantation techniques.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2012.