Assalam-o-alikum

i need some material related to water crisis in Pakistan...

thanks...

AoA

sister, i do pray for ur welbeing nd prosperity

well you may search the topic in the google

you may also like to see the Economic Survery of Paksitan. There is also an approved policy of WAPDA, perhaps it is Vision 2016, try to search for it in official publications, it may be of great help to you

regards

Allah hafiz

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'Thee woh ik shakhs kay tasawar saay - abb woh ranayee khayal kahaan'

Pakistan's water sector policy is in deep crisis. Water for farmers and other users is becoming increasingly scarce. Large reservoirs are silting up, and more than 60 per cent of irrigation water is wasted before it reaches the crops. Pakistan's water politics have benefited a small group of large landowners and bureaucrats, and deepened the inequality between the rich and the poor. They have also taken a huge toll on the environment, and intensified the political tensions between the provinces.

For more than 50 years, Pakistan's water sector policy has been guided by a belief that big is beautiful. The Indus Basin irrigation system is in fact the world's largest water diversion scheme. At the time of construction, the Tarbela Dam was the largest structure ever built by mankind. Massive drainage super highways also intersect the country to resolve problems of water logging and salinisation.

A new approach to Pakistan's water sector is needed. Methods that have been historically neglected have the potential to resolve the country's water crisis. Plugging leaks in the existing system makes more economic sense and is more environmentally benign than building new large dams and canals. Since so much water is currently being wasted, there are vast opportunities to deliver more water through better maintenance of the existing infrastructure, and innovative methods such as drip irrigation. In addition, small, decentralised systems of water storage and supply could reduce poverty more effectively than large dams and canals, and at lower environmental cost.

There is a growing international consensus that efficiency improvements and small-scale projects are often better solutions to water woes than centralised mega dams. A new World Bank report stipulates that irrigation investment should prioritise improving water management on marginal lands, promoting low-cost and community-driven irrigation technologies, and supporting water conservation. "There will be less scope for the large dams that store water," the bank report argues. "Given the risks and costs involved in new diversions and expansion of the irrigated area, priority should be given to improving existing irrigation."

In Pakistan, a World Bank evaluation found that water conservation measures saved more water than the largest new dam in the government's investment programme could have stored, and at one-fifth the cost. The Asian Development Bank estimated that a large dam could supply the same amount of water with a price tag of $4.5 billion, or by water conservation measures at a cost of $1.7 billion. Conservation measures would do more than simply deliver water at a lower cost. They would also defuse the political tensions and avoid the environmental destruction that large dams on the Indus invariably cause.

In early June, the World Bank adopted a new Country Assistance Strategy for Pakistan. The new strategy does not adequately reflect the lessons of experience in Pakistan's water sector. The bank's lending programme includes only $40 million for small-scale irrigation projects, and does not contain any measures to promote the drip irrigation techniques that could double the efficiency of water delivery. In comparison, the lending programme allocates $300 million for a new large dam, and World Bank representatives have repeatedly urged the government to move forward with the Kalabagh or Bhasha dams. The bank says that a consensus among the provinces must be achieved before it finances a new dam, but in the past it has often funded infrastructure projects even when its conditions and policies were flouted.

How can the contradictions between the evaluation of past experience and the priorities of future lending be explained? When it comes to devising strategies and identifying specific projects, the World Bank is not a neutral arbiter. The northern shareholders that dominate its board favour large-scale projects that offer contracts for their export industries. Likewise, many southern governments favour centralised projects that empower central government bureaucracies and provide opportunities for prestigious ribbon cutting and political patronage. If bureaucrats have to pay hefty bribes to secure senior positions, they are more likely to promote large infrastructure investments that offer kickbacks than small-scale alternatives.

The self-interests of the World Bank's management coincide with the interests of its member governments. Bank managers find it easier to reach their lending targets, and have a better chance of getting promoted, if they finance a large dam or canal than if they process small loans for labour-intensive efficiency improvements and decentralised irrigation projects.

Alternative approaches to resolve Pakistan's water crisis are available. Water users, public servants and civil society groups must push for transparent and participatory decision-making processes when policies, investment programmes and projects in the water sector are being defined. Past experience shows that these decisions cannot be left only to government bureaucrats and the World Bank.

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This is the sign of 1 who loves GOD that his chief care z goodness n devotion n his words r mostly in praise n glorification of GOD.

The Worldwide Fund has painted an alarming picture in respect of the future availability of water in this part of the world. A report published by the Fund has stated that the 40% of humanity living in China and South Asia could well be forced to live with little drinking water in 50 years as global warming melts the Himalayan glaciers. These glaciers supply 300 million acre feet of water to the rivers in this part of Asia. With the relentless increase in global warming, these glaciers have been receding at a rapid rate.
A quarter of the glaciers could disappear by the year 2050, and only a half could be left by 2100. The situation in South Asia will be all the more critical, because these regions depend largely on glaciers for drinking water, while in other parts of the world there are additional sources of water. The Himalayan glaciers cover an area of 37,000 square kilometers, and of these the majority is receding. The worst affected is the glacier at the foot of Mount Everest that has receded as much as three miles in just 53 years since the peak was conquered by Edmund Hillary in 1953. In the long run, as the mass of ice diminishes glacial runoffs in summer and river flows will be reduced, leading to severe water shortages in the area. Scientists at India’s Space Research Organisation, using remote sensing satellites, have found a 35% drop in glacial water already in two-thirds of the glaciers studied. Incidentally, a group trying to halt global warming has posted a photograph of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa with almost all its snow cap gone!
Residents of the mountainous regions say that many of their fresh-water springs have dried up. The reasons for the change include global warming as well as the increased agricultural practices in the hills. At the same time the activities of timber mafias in our northern areas is causing very rapid depletion of this precious resource due to uncontrolled de-forestation. Water shortage in summer is so acute that trekkers sometimes have to carry buckets of water. Drought in India has resulted in a reduction in the availability of water from 4,000 to 1,900 cubic meters per capita. Millions of tubewells have been drilled in India. However, over a period of time these result in a marked lowering of the underground water table.
In the city of Lahore, the water table is reported to have gone down to many hundreds of feet. According to UNICEF, when the water table reaches a depth of 1,000 meters, it falls below the ‘cut off’ line for water scarcity. At present rates of fall, this situation is likely to be reached by the year 2025, which is not all that far in the future. Already, the impact of climate change is evident in the soaring summer temperatures in South Asia, which go up to 50 degrees Celsius.
How can ordinary people help save water? They could use water sparingly when they bathe, cook, or wash clothes. They could avoid washing their cars, or sprinkling water on the stretches of road in front of their houses, on a daily basis; and when they do, they could try to save water. Such simple steps, multiplied a million times across a region, can save a lot of water and make a difference.
Over a period of millions of years, animals and humans lived on this planet without causing any damage to the environment. In contrast, for the last few hundred years, by burning millions of tons of fossil fuels a year, and by insisting on a more and more lavish standard of living for a larger and larger number of people around the globe, we are moving rapidly towards Hell on earth.
One can only say: we should all go easy on our standard of living, else our goose will be cooked. If the earth becomes unlivable, it will not distinguish between the ‘North’ and the ‘South’, the rich or the poor. So let each of us make his humble contribution while we may. If we do not read the writing on the wall, Nature will restore the balance. If there is not enough drinking water to go round, as predicted by the Worldwide Fund, millions will die until only that many persons are left for whom the quantities of water are sufficient.

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This is the sign of 1 who loves GOD that his chief care z goodness n devotion n his words r mostly in praise n glorification of GOD.