‘WATER & ENERGY WOES’ Efficient water management is the need of the hour

Therefore, a ‘water policy’ does not mean only to ensure the access of people to enough drinking water. It’s about agriculture, pollution, droughts, climate change and energy too. Owing to its multifarious usage, water has, and is, surpassing oil as the world’s scarcest resource because unlike oil, water has no substitute.

Some analysts fear that if no radical change is introduced, it would suffocate Pakistan’s economy. The energy sector would have to pay through nose to provide energy to the nation. Water is the second largest source of power generation in Pakistan as the country produces only 33% of its total electricity using hydel sources. However, out of the total estimated generation capacity of 50,000 MW, Pakistan is utilizing only 14% of its water potential’ hence the crisis worsens. To end, or at least minimize, all the water woes of the country, quick remedies are required at the earliest. First of all, the wastage of water needs to be avoided.Many of the wars of the 20th century were about oil, but wars of the 21st century will be over water.
(Isamil Serageldin)

Presently, water issue has become a serious impediment to Pakistan’s development. People in various parts of the country are in extreme want of enough water for domestic use and, unfortunately, pure drinking water too has become an unaffordable luxury for many Pakistanis. The state of affairs looks even grim when we see the dams drying up; glacial supplies shrinking and the lush green fields turning into deserts.

 Despite having the world’s largest irrigation system, Pakistan loses about 2/3 of its water resources due to poor infrastructure. Every day, nearly 40% of water is wasted through canals; 10% through evaporation; 30% due to percolation and 20% by the general masses. Therefore, wastage of water needs to be dealt with on urgent basis. This can be done by repairing the decades-old water systems as pointed out by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research which suggests:’About two thirds of our water resources are lost in transmission and seepage. This means that about 68 million acre feet of water can be brought in use if the canal system is adequately repaired and maintained’.

Similarly, replacing the traditional watercourses with supply pipes can also serve the purpose. In addition, public awareness is very important in this regard. Media, NGOs and the educational institutes can play a pivotal role to achieve this goal.

Secondly, there is a dire need to build new water reservoirs. The politicization of mega projects should end now. And even otherwise, the focus can be directed to the smaller dams and little projects. The projects already in the pipeline should be completed on priority basis. The 2025 Vision Programme, for instance, includes projects including the raising of the Mangla Dam, the Quetta Water Project, Chashma Right Bank Canal, Gomal Zam Dam, Katchi Canal and Rainee Canal. Other projects include the Thal Floodwater Canal, Satpara Dam, Kurram Tangi Dam, Mirani Dam, Sabakzai Dam, Jinnah Barrage, Allai Khawar, Khan Khawar, Duber Khawar, Malakand III and Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric Projects. There are a number of other sites both on Indus and Jhelum Rivers and off-channel which can be used to generate power.

Lastly, the efficient utilization of the rainwater is of utmost importance. Pakistan receives heavy downpours during monsoons; but these seasonal showers have been good for nothing rather they create heavy floods and countrywide devastations. Even the recent monsoon rains have caused huge destruction all over the country. An unprecedented increase in global temperature causes the meltdown of glaciers, hence, the water level rises that results in floods. Due to poor infrastructure and improper drainage, water runs off and often leads to flooding in downstream areas.It has become ever-more important to draft deliberate policies for proper utilization and management of the rainwater by building new reservoirs. This extra water can be used for irrigation and industrial purposes. In this way, we can save a huge volume of freshwater. The masses should also be educated to utilize the rainwater sensibly.

We should learn from the example of Canada that is not only the third largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world but its biggest exporter too. Following its footsteps, Pakistan should use its water potential to earn a respectable position in the comity of nations and to mitigate the miseries of millions of Pakistanis.