Tag Archive for 'Pakistan water crisis'

Population explosion: Pakistan hurtling towards water crisis

Published on 07/15/2012 in displacement of people, drought and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Retrieved from: Brecorder

“Pakistan is fast heading towards a water crisis, as water availability in the country continues to decline at a vary fast pace, official documents obtained by Business Recorder showed.

“The per capita availability of water is currently at 1,011 cubic metres per capita, which is marginally above the minimum requirement of 1000 cubic meters. In 1951, it was 5,269 cubic meters.

“A Wapda official termed the situation critical and said that the country would be deficient in water to such an extent that it would be unable to meet the requirements of a rising population and an economy heavily dependant on agriculture.

“We are heading towards an acute water shortage largely because of rapid population growth and failure of successive governments to build reservoirs to store water,” the official added.

“Top Wapda officials in their presentation to the Senate’s Standing Committee on Water and Power ‘on present and future scenario of water availability vis-as-vis population’ showed that per capita water availability would drop to 877 cubic meters by 2020 that is insufficient to meet requirements of 204 million people.

“Water shortage would be one of the major challenges for the country unless serious efforts were made for the storage of 17.8 million acre-foot water, an official said.”

Read more: Brecorder

sammykayed

No Doubt Pakistan’s Water Crisis Is Predominantly Manmade

Published on 01/23/2012 in agriculture, drought, water rights and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Greater Kashmir

“Pakistan has in most areas of agriculture a monsoon climate, and there might be abundant rainfall during the wet season and then a very long dry season where crop production depends very heavily on irrigation water.

“Groundwater is a very important source of irrigation for farmers. Ground water is being over-pumped extensively in order to meet current demands for food production but if our demands exceed that renewable supply, then we must be in the situation that we might be over-pumping groundwater to satisfy the demand, or taking too much water from river basin systems, result in formation of salinity and barren land that in long run cause food scarcity. Over-pumping of groundwater for agriculture, industry or domestic use comes at a sharp ecological price. It disrupts the natural hydrologic cycle, causes Rivers and wetlands to dry up, the ground to collapse and fish and wildlife and trees to die.

“Water and agricultural sectors are likely to be the most sensitive to climate change. Fresh water availability is expected to be highly vulnerable to the anticipated climate change. While the frequency and severity of floods would eventually increase in river deltas. The arid and semi-arid regions could experience severe water stress.

Read more: Eurasia review

sammykayed