PESHAWAR:Water scarcity poses a significant challenge with potential disastrous impacts on the economy and recognizing this urgency the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Pakistan is implementing the UKaid-funded Water Resource Accountability in Pakistan (WRAP) Programme.
This was said by Dr. Mohsin Hafeez, Director of Water, Food & Ecosystems, IWMI while addressing a consultation workshop held here on Water Accounting and Water Resources Assessment Standards.
The workshop was chaired by Caretaker Minister for Irrigation KP, Engr Ahmad Jan, and attended by Secretary Irrigation, Tahir Orakzai, and several experts on water and irrigation.
Welcoming the participants of the workshop, Dr. Mohsin provided an insightful overview of the WRAP program and its components which focuses on climate-resilient solutions for improving water governance.
The overarching objective of the program is to enhance water governance through climate-resilient solutions, implementing federal and provincial-level climate-smart interventions.
These initiatives, he added, are geared towards strengthening national capacities for the implementation of climate-smart interventions, breaking through technical and non-technical barriers, and ensuring long-term sustainability.
Furthermore, the program will generate critical evidence for the implementation of national climate and water policies.
The major outcome of the WRAP Programme is to improve water governance in the Indus Basin to support the implementation of national policies (water and climate change).
The focus is also on the better ‘use’ of water and how it could be shared around priority ‘usage’ areas to support the implementation of Water Acts.
Moreover, dissemination of key findings through multiple forums and capacity development activities of key government institutions and the private sector to advocate for scaling up technical interventions to support diversity and inclusion through improving water governance.
Speaking on the occasion, caretaker Minister for Irrigation Engr. Ahmad Jan urged the youth and stakeholders to come forward with new ideas and assist the government in drafting water conservation policy and implementation.
The Minister deplored the apathy of past governments in the conservation of drinking water, adding that water-related policies were drafted in every period but not implemented.
“We have always wasted a precious blessing like water which is decreasing day by day,” he noted and said the countries across the globe were doing fast work to conserve drinking water and increase water storage capacity but unfortunately, the political forces in Pakistan were entangled in political issues, he lamented.
The Minister said that the drinking water pipelines were connected with drainage pipes and no preventive measure was ever taken to avert clean drinking water from mixing with sewage.
He invited the educated youth and organizations working on water to guide the government and propose recommendations for drafting a policy.
Secretary Irrigation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tahir Orakzai said that KP was rich in natural resources and the government was working on various projects regarding water reservoirs but the desired results could not be achieved so far.
He said that in present times every organization has to work together to complete any project, adding, “Water is life and we must act fast to save life.”