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
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