Dr Hussain said if there is no intervention, water availability would drop further to as low as 575 cubic metres by 2050.
The per capita water availability in Pakistan has decreased from 5,260 cubic metres in 1951 to 1,000 cubic metres, which is the water security threshold, Government College University Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Zakir Hussain said on Thursday.
He was addressing a seminar titled Water and Biodiversity. The seminar was held to mark the International Day for Biological Diversity. It was arranged by the Department of Zoology.
Dr Hussain said if there was no intervention, water availability would drop further to as low as 575 cubic metres by 2050.
He said that Pakistan would experience increased water shortage in terms of per capita water availability if tangible steps were not taken to increase storage capacity. He stressed the need for creating awareness among people regarding rational water usage.
In 2010 and 2011, he said, 54.5 million acre-fee (MAF) water went down to sea which was around 11 times the storage of Mangala Dam. The situation demanded more reservoirs to save the water to cope with the challenges, he added.
He said the United Nations had placed Pakistan among the “water hotspots” of Asia-Pacific region.
Talking about power generation, he said 1,500 KW of electricity could be produced from canal water and 1,000 megawatt from the sugarcane waste.
He said that the International Day for Biological Diversity was an occasion to increase understanding and awareness of issues and challenges around biodiversity.
Dr Naureen Aziz Qureshi, the Zoology Department head, said that this year’s theme for the international day sought to highlight the important roles of biodiversity and ecosystem in providing for water security and therefore for sustainable development. She said the key message was biodiversity as a solution to help achieve water security.
Prof Dr Muhammad Ashraf from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, said that water was essential to support biodiversity.
“Losing biodiversity is a bit like losing the life’s support system,” he said.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Programme Director Dr Ghulam Akbar was also present.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 24th, 2013.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ