STAFF REPORT IBD: Water crisis is fast looming over Pakistan which has raised alarm regarding water storage mechanism.
“Water will be a major limiting factor in Pakistan,” remarked Saleem Shaikh, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Climate Change in Islamabad, adding this critical situation has raised the alarm that water storage simply hasn’t kept up with population growth.
He said that the countrys water resources are under virulent pressure mainly due to the ever increasing population growth, while failure of successive governments to build reservoirs to store water has only aggravated the situation of water accessibility.
Fresh reports say that the per capita water availability is currently at 1,011 cubic metres per capita, which is marginally above the minimum requirement of 1,000 cubic metres. In 1951, it was around 5,269 cubic meters.
As population grows further, the per capita water availability would further drop to 877 cubic meters by 2020 when population will hit estimated 204 million mark.
“If these growth rates continue and more of those rural dwellers continue to move into cities, the country’s shift to an urban majority could come even sooner than expected and place even greater stresses on an already stretched water system,” he maintained.