CGSS holds day-long conference on water security

ISLAMABAD, Oct 24 (APP):Center for Global and Strategic Studies (CGSS) on Wednesday organized a day-long conference on water security to discuss the looming water crises in Pakistan and the mechanisms to mitigate the challenges and devise an extended policy framework.
Addressing the conference, Minister of State for Climate Change, Zartaj Gul said that solving water scarcity issue in Pakistan demands multi-facet solutions. She added there is a need to create public awareness through capacity-building.
She said, “Our country is suffering from history’s worst water crisis that requires coordinated efforts at multiple fronts including individual, community, tehsil, district, provincial and national.
Former Minister for Law Advocate Ahmed Bilal Soofi presented his views on Indian violation of Indus Water Treaty. He said that engineered treaty and framework will not work instead we must address our issues at UN and WTO.
Chairman Federal Flood Commission Ahmed Kamal presented speech on mainstreaming Disaster (Flood) Risk Reduction in water sector. He stated that current development practices are not fully considerate about climate change and disaster risks as there is a visible shift in summer and winter weather pattern from the normal.
He said, “Our focus must be to ensure water sustainability through mainstreaming DRR and CC approaches in water sector project planning and implementation.”
National Coordinator on Water Resources, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) Zakir Hussain Dahri talked about surface storage and groundwater recharge in Pakistan. He suggested water storage policy recommendations for future.
Director General, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) Dr Muhammad Ashraf said that it has been reported that out of 43 canal commands, the water table was declining in 26 canal commands due to rapid increase in groundwater abstraction.
Similar is the situation in large cities where water table is depleting at an alarming rate, he added.
Director, Climate Energy and Water Resources Institute, National Agricultural Research Center, (NARC) Dr Muhammad Munir Ahmad enlightened the participants about the major constraints in food security that included water availability but no land, underutilization of available water, conventional energy scarcity and less command area development.
Chairman CGSS Lt Gen ® Muhammad Zahir Ul Islam said that in recent years, Pakistan has suffered from severe water shortages, flooding and declining water quality. The worsening water crisis must be resolved to achieve stability and progress.