water scarcity: Doomsday scenario for pakistan
 

While reading the report referring to climate change, various climatologist has already predicted the worst situation with no better opting adjustment in pakistan. we (pakistanis )have already polluted our lakes, depleted our glaciers and deteriorated the natural capital at worst:you guys believe that its a doomsday scenario;since, we have no comprehensive scheme to deal with.PEPA and national disastour management authority are some of the corrupt allies in this regard, coupled with construction of India's "dams in disputatious lands".
Whats your plans and strategy , since today I read a report which is haunting me, Karachi will be going to experience another high temperature spell in the coming days, at the same time last year we lost precious lives last year.

What individuals can plan and strategize in this regard!. One who can afford will buy generators or UPS.

The most important thing which is used in heat stroke cases is drinking water and unfortunately, Karachi is badly suffering from water drinking water shortage and everyone is forced to buy 20 to 30 litres of drinking water at Rs. 40 on daily basis which is beyond the affordability of common poor man who hardly earns 200 per day.

Plus Karachi is heavily crowded city, here people are living in congested flats where there is no mechanism of ventilation and during the hot season, they become oven and mostly people, usually children and oldies die due to suffocation. I cannot write further, i have seen people dying last year from my very own eyes since i worked at hospital those days and daily 10 to 15 people were coming as heat stroke victims and some were already dead and some died after admission. This is just the case of one private hospital, let alone the remaining hospitals and government hospitals.

Yours sincerely

my question is , are we prepared for the upcoming doomsday scenario?

[QUOTE=ursula;925103]my question is , are we prepared for the upcoming doomsday scenario?[/QUOTE]


WELL WE ARE PREPARED .. IT WAS JUST YESTERDAY THAT I WENT THROUGH A NEWS THAT 300 GRAVES HAVE BEEN DUG ...

IRONIC ENOUGH , NO ?

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD WE HEAR OF PRE_cautionary measures , here its POST_Cautionary measure..

[QUOTE=Strandedsoul;925109]WELL WE ARE PREPARED .. IT WAS JUST YESTERDAY THAT I WENT THROUGH A NEWS THAT 300 GRAVES HAVE BEEN DUG ...

IRONIC ENOUGH , NO ?

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD WE HEAR OF PRE_cautionary measures , here its POST_Cautionary measure..[/QUOTE]

Good explanation, after all war on terror is our priority no 1, who cares for us.
Laudable and applausable explanation,:clap

[QUOTE=Strandedsoul;925109]WELL WE ARE PREPARED .. IT WAS JUST YESTERDAY THAT I WENT THROUGH A NEWS THAT 300 GRAVES HAVE BEEN DUG ...

IRONIC ENOUGH , NO ?

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD WE HEAR OF PRE_cautionary measures , here its POST_Cautionary measure..[/QUOTE]
Well buddy, your reply really made me laugh. And its for sure that at least Govt. has to arrange enough land for graves.

And yet we are not prepared for dooms day crisis both in long and short run.

Short run is coming summer. RAMAZAN will add fuel to the fire. May Allah protect us all in the best possible way.

So far, long run is concerned, Pakistan's water conditions in 30 to 40 years will be worst. What we are observing nowadays in Tharparker, Allah forbid, same thing might be prevalent in whole Pakistan or at least the whole Sindh or Balochistan.

Govt. should take steps on war footing basis to build reservoirs, grow enough forests, trees, dams, or Super Powers might be doing the same for Pakistan in next 30 to 40 years in exchange of nukes.

But but but, Allah khair kare iss saal garmiyun ma. I don't remember who told me or i had read it somewhere that summers in Australia, specifically in Sydney are very very hot so every next stop Govt. out there has planted water sprinklers which showers water on people to save them for hotness and dehydration.

What a fool i am! Comparing things of Australia for Pakistan. Intensely suffering from weltschmerz.

Yours sincerely

[QUOTE=ursula;924902]While reading the report referring to climate change, various climatologist has already predicted the worst situation with no better opting adjustment in pakistan. we (pakistanis )have already polluted our lakes, depleted our glaciers and deteriorated the natural capital at worst:you guys believe that its a doomsday scenario;since, we have no comprehensive scheme to deal with.PEPA and national disastour management authority are some of the corrupt allies in this regard, coupled with construction of India's "dams in disputatious lands".
Whats your plans and strategy , since today I read a report which is haunting me, Karachi will be going to experience another high temperature spell in the coming days, at the same time last year we lost precious lives last year.[/QUOTE]

Has given me sleepless nights when I tried to write the essay " Water and National Unity" that appeared this year. The facts that came out while researching to write about the topic were baffling.
1) The total demand for water by 2025 will be 274 Million Acre Feet(MAF) while the availability will be 191 MAF. Do the math!
2) The per capita water availability has gone down from over 5000 cubic meters in 1947 to 1017 cubic meters.
3) Global warming has increased the melting of glaciers faster than they are replaced.
4) Our total storage capacity is 30 days of average water demand compared to India's 300 and Egypt's 1000 days.

People who think that building dams alone can solve the demand and supply gap are mistaken because with all the dams built, they can only provide an additioal supply of 21 MAF while having done the maths above, we need at least 83 MAF do bridge the shortfall. Secondly, the capacity of storage and regulation of dams dwindle as time elapses due to siltation. Moreover, dams require their own time and financial resources to be constructed in the first place.

Hence in addition to building dams, their should be more emphasis on conservation through improving infrastructure and a comprehensive tax regime.

95% of fresh water is used in agriculture while only 5% is consumed in other sectors. Only the lining of canals in Sindh can save up to 20 MAF of water that seeps into the ground and gets wasted.
Secondly irrigation techniques need to be revisited and efficient methods such as drip irrigation should be introduced. Since this is a considerable investment for farmers, this policy and awareness is bound to fail if not backed up by revising the water tax. As an example, the canal water tax or "abiana" covers less than 30% of the expenses of the maintenance and running of these systems. This too, if the collection and recovery is 100% although it stannds at around 60%.
Hence, once the farmer is made to pay for the water he uses, the wastage of water will reduce and the incentive to invest in techniques that use water efficiently will be preset.

Another way of incorporating professionalism in our outlook of water is by pricing crops and agricultural produce based on their water differential. Some crops such as sugarcane and rice consume more water than other crops and this difference should be reflected in their prices.

This will pave way for the usage by farmers of genetically modified seeds of crops that produce more and require less water. As someone has aptly put it, " More crop per Drop". Since, in a competitive market with water differential, all will vie for the providing the cheapest rates for their produce and for that they will have to adopt better irrigation and plantation techniques.

Another important aspect related to water is taxing the agricultural sector. This sector is hugely under-taxed sector. By bringing this sector under the tax net, the government is sure to be in a healthy financial position to undertake different programs aimed at averting the water crisis.

These were some measures on the supply side of the water problem although equally important is the demand side of the equation. With an ever increasing population and being the seventh most populous country on planet earth, this is a race we must lose. More mouths to feed means more demand for water, both for domestic and agricultural purposes. Food security demands more land to be brought under irrigation which in turn means more constraint on the already meager water resources.
Effective population control programs such as increased awareness at the national level is necessary. The use of social workers, religious teachers and community leaders is a must i such campaigns. Secondly, bringing more and more females to pursue higher education can be another effective way of controlling the population as such females tend to delay marriages as opposed to the local customs.(we can go on and on regarding population control here, but I rest it here)

If all of the above ways fail and we donot take measures to turn the tables in the looming crisis, then the only possible solution to at least keep our population alive will be desalination of sea water. Its huge costs and limited scope will however not be even slightly able to support our agriculture but desperate times will require desperate measures and we may live a few more breaths.

First of all thanks for all you guys for providing me info, now I'll explain my point of view and I hope we will learn that.:))
[QUOTE=Redefiner;925139]Well buddy, your reply really made me laugh. And its for sure that at least Govt. has to arrange enough land for graves. [/QUOTE]
Exactly, but remember a report is already published that land is constricted for poor,since who will pay the funeral expanses, Allah forbids,people have no penny to purchase three times bread in a day which is particularly grave some for daily wagers:oo
[QUOTE]Govt. should take steps on war footing basis to build reservoirs, grow enough forests, trees, dams, or Super Powers might be doing the same for Pakistan in next 30 to 40 years in exchange of nukes. [/QUOTE]
Shoooop!:wait
Buddy its all about big cartels and joint ventured military industrial complexes, afterall security trilemmma, among India Pakistan and USA is a source of profit for many businesses like goldman sachs, clinton foundation and rockefeller.
Who give damms, who think for this that South Asia is worlds most populous region in the world and that provision of food and sustainable ecosystem and resources are also some principles of morality that is the responsibility of our respective governments, instead our policy and our priority is designed according to western interest, according to joint ventured companies.
[QUOTE] I don't remember who told me or i had read it somewhere that summers in Australia, specifically in Sydney are very very hot so every next stop Govt.....[/QUOTE]
Well dude, you have been told correctly.
I also read it and here I'm going to share my little knowledge:
Since Allah almighty has created each piece of land as tremendous sign of his existance,Since it becomes lil off topic, but let me share you very briefly.
Eurasia: land of great opportunities and center of political chessboard, where big powers compete and outmanuevered the conflicting powers(all wars are fought and containment policy chisled around to acquire the hegemony across this unique land, see Hitler dream or Natos containment policy)
North and south America: completely isolated from the rest of the world because of cutting edges of pacific and Atlantic on either side:hence, need projects like Panama canal and Nafta,safta to interlink with the rest of world.
Africa: resource rich area, let alone Libya has enough gold, copper, gas and oil resources that it could have competed successfully against nesty America(no need to mention nerubian underground aquifers, which is such a large reserviour of water that literally transform the half of Sahara into oasis)its just the tip of an iceberg.
Australia: Guess what!
An ambhibian of this planet Earth?
Let me explain you what I mean because it is very pertinent to the topic.
Basically, what frogs and toads do for our resistance much like continent Australia do the same.
Toads are amphibians and have very thin skin to respire, in an unsalubrious or in a polluted environment they act like indicator,because of capillary thin skinned respiration, they die out and their number shrinks- sign of alarms(have you got it why amphibians are shrinking and insects are growing exponentially, particularly mosquitoes, dude story gets long)
Any ways, Australia is also experiencing elnino and la nino, besides having a unique guyers or more appropriately circulating cyclones in the upper atmosphere, because of its uniquness of locality,Sydney, Canberra and interior of Australia that extends to the west fringes of SAARC up to Karachi are the epicenter of any climatic epistomlogy: I.e. in upper atmosphere every high pressure cells and anticyclones have enormous and tangible impact on local climates.Or in simple words,this thin fringing is going to experience the unpredictable weather patterns the most in the upcoming decades, whose first spell was started from 2010 flooding in Pakistan.Environmentalist predicted that weather pattern would be of
"[B] long rain less years with short but very destructive and powerful showering seasons"[/B]
Even though it has long explanation, yet I just say this global warming is a " man-made " phenomenon, which can be tackled provided we have strong will power.
Lakin: hmary waqya hy khair nhy he, (advance main aik dusre se mafi mang lain, kuyn k koy nhy janta k kon zinda rhe ga, ironically har sall, waleather brutes will be gotten intensified.its like play with fire and not expecting to be burnt.:oooo
@abutrab
[QUOTE]1) The total demand for water by 2025 will be 274 Million Acre Feet(MAF) while the availability will be 191 MAF. Do the math!
2) The per capita water availability has gone down from over 5000 cubic meters in 1947 to 1017 cubic meters.
3) Global warming has increased the melting of glaciers faster than they are replaced.
4) Our total storage capacity is 30 days of average water demand compared to India's 300 and Egypt's 1000 days.[/QUOTE]
Have some correction please, figures has been worsoned even more than that.....
For example per capital availability of water in Pakistan is not 1000+ but in the range of 900 or even less than that.(also revise all the figures, pardon me our basic purpose is the correction of each others mistake and i hope you correct me as well where you find me wrong:D)

[QUOTE]People who think that building dams alone can solve the demand and supply gap are mistaken [/QUOTE]
Let me tell you dams construction are inviting more catastrophy, because not only pristine ecology is destroyed but also decreases the level of underground water which eventually expands the deserts in some regions besides having water logging problem in dams infringes.
The solution lies in smart planning and comprehensive planning.
P.S. don't stereotyped that I'm lobbyist of anti-kalabagh propogator.
I am just asserting my point of argument.

[QUOTE]Hence in addition to building dams, their should be more emphasis on conservation through improving infrastructure and a comprehensive tax regime.[/QUOTE]
Regarding tax widening, learn some lessons from Israel and south Africa, where water tax and prepaid meters are installed.
I studied very interesting facts that consumption of water is proportion to fee charging mechanism.I.e. those tactics that we apply in electricity bills, they frequently put it into water bills(it is estimated that nearly 35pc of fresh water can be conserved, pr bat why hmarry government k yr priority kahan he, combined with bureaucratic hurdle.
[QUOTE]Secondly irrigation techniques need to be revisited and efficient methods such as [B]drip irrigation[/B] should be introduced.[/QUOTE]
That's the most strongest argument and I just add one thing more, nearly 75% (though seemed exaggerated to me at first glance, but really a scientisf has got the noble prize over his work) thag by stopping or minimizing evepotranspiration almost worlds entire water scarcity problem would be resolve and one such does is irrigate the plants through drift irrigation at night (not at high sun time )
Sir, I agreed with you at all points except GMO, because I am strongly orgainc food campaigner, Id rather suggest you to read" the seeds of destruction by William F.Engdahl.
In ES paper I particularly quoted the colonial collapse disorder of bees by such toxic plants, since we need sanguine and environmentally sustainable solution.
P.s typo errors and other other errors ko neglect krna, I'm noob, just ignore it.Thanks,
Oh yeah!
If found any contradictions, I am appreciating all of you.:jr:clap

[QUOTE=ursula;925113]Good explanation, after all war on terror is our priority no 1, who cares for us.
Laudable and applausable explanation,:clap[/QUOTE]


Spot on ! but does WoT hinders government and statuary committee from delivering? Its absolutely different issue but yes it relates in a sense inn ko apni jaanon k laalay parr gaey hyn... Will Zarb E azb work ? No! GOD FORBID double will be the number of victimized .... the exploiter this time being the climate change and non conventional military threats...

The bottom-line of security is survival.. agree, but what of substantial range of concerns about the conditions of EXISTENCE???

COPENHAGEN SCHOOL theorist haven't included terrorism to the list that should be considered grave threat to Intl security. the list comprises of:


=>environmental decline
=>natural disaster
=>poverty
=>deadly diseases
=>resource scarcity

but v still are badly obsessed with this one issue.. ignoring all other issues claiming dozens of lives daily..

ALLAH HIDAYAT DAY..

[QUOTE=Redefiner;925139]Well buddy, your reply really made me laugh. And its for sure that at least Govt. has to arrange enough land for graves.

And yet we are not prepared for dooms day crisis both in long and short run.

Short run is coming summer. RAMAZAN will add fuel to the fire. May Allah protect us all in the best possible way.

So far, long run is concerned, Pakistan's water conditions in 30 to 40 years will be worst. What we are observing nowadays in Tharparker, Allah forbid, same thing might be prevalent in whole Pakistan or at least the whole Sindh or Balochistan.

Govt. should take steps on war footing basis to build reservoirs, grow enough forests, trees, dams, or Super Powers might be doing the same for Pakistan in next 30 to 40 years in exchange of nukes.

But but but, Allah khair kare iss saal garmiyun ma. I don't remember who told me or i had read it somewhere that summers in Australia, specifically in Sydney are very very hot so every next stop Govt. out there has planted water sprinklers which showers water on people to save them for hotness and dehydration.

What a fool i am! Comparing things of Australia for Pakistan. Intensely suffering from weltschmerz.

Yours sincerely[/QUOTE]



you are quite right ...
we as a Nation are most indiscreet ..
Here I WOULD like to share an incident just to illustrate efficiency of all our governments
I happened to pass by the canals of south Punjab, believe me they are about to raise to the level of land .. hardly 1_5 feet.. not to say of building new dams , we couldn't even take care of what we've been bestowed with.. who can say this easily overflown badly flood prone system of canal was world's #1 ????
Never did I see anything like sediment being cleaned or the barrages being renovated ..

Switching to cleaner hydro , wind , solar and nuclear energy can ameliorate the situation but we only know politicking upon national issues.. DEBATES , RESERVATIONS , THREATS OF STRIKES and CHAPTER CLOSED...