ISLAMABAD: The Senate Special Committee on Water Scarcity on Wednesday asked the newly created National Water Council (NWC) to settle once and for all two longstanding provincial disagreements on Chashma-Jhelum canal and filling of Mangla dam in its maiden meeting on Oct 25.

A meeting of the special panel presided over by Senator Moula Bux Chandio of the PPP also directed the water resources ministry to seek a clear decision from the council if the water resources of Mangla dam were dedicated to Punjab as reported by Punjab’s member of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) recently.

Water Resources Secretary Shumail Khwaja told the meeting that it was a myth created by the media that water availability had dropped in the country. On the contrary, he said, water availability had remained generally unchanged, but the population has increased manifold.

He said the water availability was almost the same in 1947 when the population of the newly created nation was around 37 million which had now gone well beyond 200m. He told the committee that it was more important and urgent to cut down on losses and wastage of water than the need for construction of additional dams.

The committee asked the ministry to get a decision from the National Water Council, led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, on Oct 25, if Chashma-Jhelum link canal was a flood canal as claimed by Sindh or a one of the seven link canals under integrated Indus basin development as claimed by Punjab.

The committee comprising mostly members from Sindh also demanded that Mangla dam should not be filled when downstream provinces faced water shortage and both Mangla and Tarbela dams should be operated simultaneously. It asked the water resources ministry to take up the matter with the NWC for a decision.

The committee deliberated upon Senator Mohammad Azam Khan Swati’s notice of motion on the issue of water shortage in the country. It was recommended that additional storage for inter-seasonal and inter-year transfer of water for optimum utilisation must be created. The losses in canals can be eliminated by lining in areas of high water loss and saline zones. It was asserted that advance systems of irrigation must be used. Water conservation was stressed as well.

Discussing the issue of desalination plants in the country, Senator Sherry Rehman said that desalination was expensive but in the wake of extreme water shortage this option must be explored. If appropriate measures are not taken, she asserted, Pakistan would face water famine by 2025. Israel and the UAE were prime examples of water-starved areas where desalination had been a success.

She condemned lack of funding in the PSDP regarding this project and said that India had begun a National Desalination Mission that was being funded adequately so that it did not depend solely on its river resources. She further asserted that Sindh and Balochistan must get its full share of water from River Indus. However, other measures must be taken to protect these provinces from sea intrusion and desertification.

Senator Sassui Paliju said Sindh had signed the 1991 water accord as a bitter pill but the province was not getting even the water share allocated by that accord.

She demanded that Chashma-Jhelum canal should not be used for transfer of water from Indus Zone to Jhelum Chenab zone, particularly when there was water shortage being faced in Sindh. She said a lot of districts in Sindh faced famine- like situation.

The committee directed the Ministry of Water Resources to provide copies of the National Water Policy and the National Water Charter of the country. It further directed that a comprehensive report on Dravat Dam in Sindh and Kachi Canal in Balochistan be submitted to the committee in the next meeting.

The meeting stressed the need for reviewing the issue of opening of the Chashma-Jhelum link canal and solutions for provision of water to lower riparian areas of the country.

The committee decided to visit Karachi and the other coastal areas such as Gwadar in Balochistan to investigate the provision of drinking water to urban areas in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2018