Water scarcity: Stress on conservation

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) President Mian Zahid Hussain called upon politicians to settle their disputes in the larger national interest and government to declare water issue as the most important one for national security.

“Demand and supply gap for water has reached alarming levels which will make Pakistan a desert in a decade if immediate steps are not taken,” he said.

He said different areas have been witnessing reduction in water table from four to 12 inches per annum while some areas have witnessed reduction of three to four feet annually which has increased the cost of pumping water through tube wells.

Almost 145 million acre feet (MAF) water passes annually through country of which only 14 MAF could be stored enough for one month while international standard stood at three months of storage.

The veteran business leader said that the government should introduce new varieties of seed requiring less water, train farmers and make reservoirs to store floodwater to improve water table. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th,  2015.

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