RAWALPINDI:Speakers on Friday said the water managers, experts and policy makers should adopt the integrated water resource management techniques to sustain the available water resources for future generation.
They speaking to a two-day training workshop on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).
The training workshop on IWRM with topics of Water Markets and Water Trading, Hydrological Modeling, Water Banking and Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), Integrated River Basin Management under Climate Change was organized here at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) by the Department of Land and Water Conservation Engineering (L&WCE), Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (FAE&T), PMAS-AAUR in collaboration with Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), with the objective of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of Registered Engineers (REs) and Professional Engineers (PEs).
Prof. Dr. Qamar uz Zaman Vice Chancellor PMAS-AAUR was the chief guest at the concluding session while the guest speakers were Dr. Muhammad Akhtar Abbas, Assistant Director in the Australian Federal Ministry of Water Dr. Sohail Rai, Director Modelling in Murray–Darling Basin Authority.
Teachers from different faculties of PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Students (PhD, Master and final year undergraduate of BSc Agricultural Engineering), and Water Engineers of PCRWR were the participants.
Dr. Qamar uz Zaman emphasized on the industry-academia linkage to address the challenges being faced by our farmers related to water resources management.
He stressed on the enhancement of water productivity pertaining to smart and precision irrigation.
Dr. Qamar stated that FAE&T, Department of L&WCE was working for national water management under the “internet of things” and Geographic Information Systems to develop an economical solution to provide early weather warnings and crop-related instructions to the farmers.
He was of the view the most important component is the national water management and water should be on the top of political agenda for economic & environmental security and policy.
He stressed that IWRM should be adopted for small-scale basins where indigenous people/farmers, stakeholders can potentially take care of their own available water resources.
He said that the focus of the Agricultural Engineering faculty is to ensure food security by developing simple and economical solutions for the farming community.
The VC further eulogized the hard work of the organizers of the training workshop and reiterated his commitment to leave no stone unturned to bring this University at par with the standards of world-leading International universities by providing a congenial environment for the researchers to find the best solutions for the agriculture in the country which is hard-pressed due to small land holdings and growing population.
Dr. Muhammad Akhtar Abbas explained to the participants about Water Market, Water Trading and Water Banking in MDBA and put his thoughts how this idea can be beneficial for Pakistani irrigators specially in Punjab.
He said that the new concept of Water Banking is similar to a banking system that can be used to store water for the time of drought and requirement.
He added that this water banking system means Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) which is a water management approach that can be used to maximize natural storage and increase water supply system resilience during periods of low flows and high seasonal variability.
Using MAR techniques, the underground water system can be sustained and its quality can be enhanced, he added.
During his lecture, Dr Abbas emphasized that the water managers, experts and policy makers should adopt the integrated water resources management techniques at basin as well as farm level to sustain the available water resources for our future generation as this policy is practically implemented in MDBA. Water is the only resource which was absolutely necessary for human survival. There is nothing you can purchase for water or exchange for water.
Water is vital for human beings as water was a basic human right but there is no global trade on water, he said.
Dr. Sohail Rai who is working as Hydrological Modeler in MDBA delivered his lecture on Integrated Quantity-Quality Model (IQQM) from Australia using a zoom link.
He talked about the importance, concept and scope of this model, adding, IQQM assists in planning and evaluating water resources management policies using a decision support system.
This Node-Link type model is used to regulate the resources allocation system (i.e. irrigation demand and diversion) in MDBA. Based upon his talk, research students got the knowledge about hydrological modeling usage, its importance in water management policies according to demand and supply.
Prof. Dr. Jehanzeb Masood Cheema, Dean, FAE&T emphasized that Pakistani rivers are facing adverse impacts of climate change. IWRM was not working on large scale basins like the Indus.
IWRM should be according to the scale of the river basin. Water has no price in real monetary sense, politically and emotionally it is probably the most important thing. The trade of water was completely different from other things because the water is untouchable in political agendas.
We want to make sure the people have good access to clean water, a reliable supply of water for drinking, for industrial purposes, for agriculture purposes and environmental purposes.
At the end, Dr. Cheema thanked the participants, speakers and the training workshop concluded with the award of certificates to the participants.