KARACHI: Rainwater harvesting is the need of the hour given the fact that Pakistan is a water stressed country whose 60 per cent geographic area is either arid or semi-arid and its population is fast growing, said speakers at the launch of a position paper on Friday.

The paper titled ‘Rainwater harvesting in arid areas’ was launched by the Friends of Indus Forum in collaboration with the Climate Change Adaptation Project (CCAP) of the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P).

According to the paper, water demand is steadily increasing in Pakistan in all sectors, be it domestic, industrial or agriculture. Presently, the agriculture sector alone consumed more than 95pc of the available water resource and it was predicted that the country would face a shortfall of 16MAF (million acre feet) by 2020 while there would be a 50pc water shortage by 2025, if the country’s population continued to grow at the current fast pace, it added.

The situation would force the government to import major food grains, the paper said, citing a report of the Global Water Partnership and Pakistan Water Partnership.

“There is a dire need to utilise rainwater, particularly in the arid zones like Kohistan, Thar, Thal and Cholistan for agriculture and livestock purposes. Groundwater in arid areas is mostly saline, and, therefore cannot be used,” the paper stated.

It also includes details about various techniques of rainwater harvesting — an efficient way of reducing water demand and related infrastructure costs — and the efforts being carried out towards the utilisation of rainwater in Sindh. Giving his feedback on the paper, eminent water expert and former irrigation minister A.N.G. Abbasi said that water scarcity was a major challenge in Pakistan whose per capita availability of water had declined from 5,000 cubic metres in 1951 to 1,000 cubic metres now. It was estimated to reduce further to 700 cubic metres in 2025.

“The water problem is as old as the Indus Water Treaty under which we gave away three major rivers [to India],” he said.

Underlining the need for thorough planning and conducting hydrological, meteorological and geological studies before initiating a water project, Mr Abbasi gave examples of different costly government projects that failed to produce desired results only because the development works lacked proper planning and research.

“We must plan realistically according to our needs and resources and make sure that the project is sustainable. Water projects should be executed in areas where ‘reliable water’ is available,” he said.

Former provincial irrigation secretary Idris Rajput said that the Sindh government needed to take the water challenge very seriously as the province existed at the end of the river system.

Rains, he said, had become irregular and erratic and there were vast areas like Kacho, Thar and Kohistan where there was no other water resource except rain.

Senior water expert Mohammad Khan Marri, who wrote the paper along with Dr Ghulam Rasool Keerio, said that the country’s water losses were huge; 65pc of water going to the agriculture sector was wasted. The issue of water shortage was acute especially in Sindh as its 60pc land was arid.

“I have been visiting Thar since 1992. The major problem there back in those days was lack of water and still today people demand nothing but water,” he said, adding that the government’s ad-hoc approach couldn’t address the crisis in Thar that was in desperate need of permanent solutions.

According to Mr Marri, rainwater harvesting could help sustain life and livelihood in Thar that has huge mineral and livestock resource.

Dr Keerio said that rainwater harvesting had the potential to increase Pakistan’s water resources.

The rainwater, he said, could be harvested with the help of ponds, small dams, wells, underground and aboveground tanks, natural lakes as well as through the rooftop of a building or a house.

Arid land, he pointed out, with its diverse flora and fauna had a unique ecosystem and must not be considered as a waste and unproductive land.

During the question-answer session, it was pointed out that rainwater harvesting was one of the ancient ways to preserve water and while planning for modern methods for rain harvesting, one should also take guidance from traditional wisdom.

Former secretary for environment and wildlife Shamsul Haq Memon said that the media should also highlight the factors leading to mortalities in Thar instead of just focusing on deaths.

It was also said that the government in Thar could also think of re-using the saline groundwater that was discharged in coal mining activities.

Nasir Panhwar of the Friends of Indus Forum and WWF-P regional director Rab Nawaz also spoke.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2014