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No water for Pakistan from glaciers after 2060: UNDP
Updated at: 2054 PST, Sunday, June 13, 2010
No water for Pakistan from glaciers after 2060: UNDP ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is a water scarce country and according to United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report most of the glaciers will deplete in next 50 years and if the situation was not arrested immediately it could lead to catastrophe.
"Glaciers melting are an alarming sign and there would be no water from glaciers after 2060, so there is a dire need of taking active steps to take the challenge," said Chairman Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR).
The need to initiate rainwater harvesting not only in urban areas but in rural areas is the immediate remedy to deal with the emerging situation, he said.
"Unless we want to avoid war on waters in future, we must preserve water for the coming generations," he said.
Water resources are shrinking at alarming pace, and the increase in population is also growing at high ratio, one can forecast the future water crisis.
Thanks to weather that rain tends to shower as usual and dying water reservoir again started breathing. This is a high time to preserve rainwater at any cost and with immediate effect.
In 1947, the per capita water availability in the country was 5,000 gallons per annum. Presently water availability goes down to 1000 gallons per person per annum.
Unless we turn towards draught like situation adaptation measures are essential to be taken before the time and for this purpose rainwater harvesting would be one of alternate solutions.
Rainwater harvesting is the gathering, or accumulating and storing of rainwater. Rainwater harvesting has been used to provide drinking water, water for livestock, water for irrigation or to refill aquifers in a process called groundwater recharge.
For the purpose one can initiate rainwater collection at grass root level, to make arrangements for water collection at our rooftops.
Rainwater collected from the roofs of houses, tents and local institutions, or from specially prepared areas of ground, can make an important contribution to drinking water. In some cases, rainwater may be the only available, or economical, water source.
Rainwater systems are simple to construct from inexpensive local materials, and are potentially successful in most habitable locations.
Roof rainwater can be of good quality and may not require treatment before consumption. However, some rooftop materials may produce rainwater that is harmful to human health. Household rainfall catchment systems are appropriate in areas with an average rainfall greater than 200 mm per year, and no other accessible water sources.
The pilot rainwater project has been initiated by the CDA in Islamabad at the compound of Faisal Mosque with the collaboration of UNDP and Pakistan Council of Research for Water Resources (PCRWR).
Islamabad is the first city to have a rainwater harvesting facility to re-charge the underground water table. CDA has planned to establish 20 more rainwater-harvesting projects in other locations of the Islamabad city.
According to Senior Director CDA, Water Management Directorate, Mr. Shahid Sohail, "Groundwater in Islamabad has gone 200ft deep, he is of opinion that due to exploitation of water its usage has been increased manifold and our lifestyle is also a reason for this water "downfall" he further explained that in the past we use to live in clay houses but now we live in cemented buildings, our streets and roads do not absorb rain water instead ten of thousand gallons of water go into different nullahas that ultimately drown into Arabian Sea.
He identified that countrywide monsoon "area-weighted" average rainfall is 137.5 m/annum and we can collect almost 250 cubic meter water, equal to 44,000 gallons by making special rainwater collection on rooftops spread over to 250 sq yards.
In Indian city Chennai groundwater went down from 3 to 7 meter deep causing seawater seepage into underground rainwater channels.
The rainwater harvesting methodology was proved a success that not only enhanced the ground water level but also pushed the seawater back from the aquifer.
