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.
According to an estimate today 1.2 billion people lack safe drinking water and
2.4 billion lack access to basic sanitation. United Nations officials say that
if we continue with business as usual, two-thirds of the world's population will
be living in moderate to severe water stress by 2025. More than two billion
people worldwide live in regions facing water scarcity and in Pakistan this is a
particularly acute crisis. Millions of Pakistanis currently lack access to clean
drinking water, and the situation is only getting worse. Pakistan has
approximately 35 million acres (140,000 km2) of arable land irrigated by canals
and tube wells, mostly using water from the Indus River.
Pakistan luckily had the largest irrigation system, but water losses from the
system were the highest in the World, due to which its agricultural sector have
been affecting badly as population of country increasing rapidly but as compare
to population growing capacity of agricultural sectors reducing rapidly due to
water shortage. Timber mafia and rapid industrialization are also playing
important role in reduction of agricultural sector. Chashma, Mangla, and Tarbela
are mainly use for irrigation purposes but the gross capacity of these dams has
decreased because of sedimentation, a continual process. Per-capita
surface-water availability for irrigation was 5,260 cubic meters per year in
1951. This has been reduced to a mere 1,100 cubic meters per year in 2006. The
water shortage will cause a wheat deficit of 12 million tons per year by
2012–13.
Fig: Fresh water withdrawal in different sectors of Pakistan
NO doubt Pakistan’s water crisis is predominantly a manmade problem. Pakistan’s
climate is not particularly dry in fact semi arid to arid, nor is it lacking in
rivers and groundwater. Extremely poor management, unclear laws, government
corruption, and industrial and human waste have caused this water supply crunch
and rendered what water is available practically useless due to the huge
quantity of pollution.
The industrial output and commercial activity of a country is gauged by the per
capita consumption of electricity. We are one of the lowest consumers of power
in Asia. Per capita energy consumption of Pakistan is only 14 MBTU compared to
80 in China, 110 in Malaysia and 115 in Iran.
The entire nation of Pakistan one way or the other depends on the dams. The
water stored in the dams is not only used for the agricultural purposes but also
to provide electricity to a nation of nearly 16 million people. After much most
suffering to Pakistani nation now Current Government satisfied them by building
of more dams to store water for making electricity. A number of dams like Bhasha
(4,500MW), Munda (740MW), Kurram Tangi (83MW) and Akhori Dam (600MW) are already
announced by the current government while other dams like Bunji (7,100MW), Dasu
(4,320MW) and Golen Gol (106MW) have a massive potential of producing hydel
generation and it would also come in national grid in the coming years.
According g to World Bank report of 2006 Pakistan was fast moving from being a
water-stressed country to a water-scarce country, primarily because of its high
population growth, over-exploitation of ground water, pollution, poor repair in
water infrastructures and financially no sustainability of water management
system. Interestingly, the country’s large parts have good soil, sunshine and
excellent farmers and these can get much more value from the existing flows.
The most water- rich country in terms of the run-off from rain-fall to
population is Iceland, with more than 500,000 cubic meters per person per year;
the most water- poor are Egypt, with just 0.02 cubic meters. Water is absolutely
essential for plant life. It is pertinent to mention here that the major source
of drinking water in Pakistan is groundwater, so water availability is the
second most serious issue.
Future water demand will be affected by many factors, including population
growth, wealth and sharing. Globally, it is estimated that between half a
billion and almost two billion people are already under high water stress, and
this number is expected to increase significantly by 2025, due primarily to
population growth and increasing to climate change.
We live in an agricultural region water is key for survival, water lost through
mismanagement mainly. A big investment in the repair of existing dams and the
large scale construction of new water storage is simple solution of problem. In
managing water resources, the Pakistani government must balance competing
demands between urban and rural, rich and poor, the economy and the environment.
However, because people have triggered this crisis, by changing their actions
they have the power to prevent water scarcity from devastating Pakistan’s
population, agriculture, and economy.