Water Management: A Solution to Water Scarcity in Pakistan

Abstract

With the increase in population of our country and changing geo-political landscape, the available water resources are fast depleting. We also understand that without water, there can be no life as we see in this physical world. The solution lies in judicious usage of water and realization to preserve, which ultimately leads to superior management of this essential resource. This paper addresses the issues pertaining to water required for agriculture, drinking as well as for other purposes. The measures recommended for preservation of irrigation water include cost effective maintenance of water channels under an integrated mechanism of public-private partnership and ownership through community participation. Similarly to resolve the issues related to drinking and general purpose water, a distinction between the two categories has been proposed for putting in practice under an integrated approach. For the purpose of enhancing storage capacity, instead of fighting on the construction of much awaited mega dams, the paper suggests construction of small dams and run of the water channels auto-spillover bunds. These measures, apart from being cost effective (i.e. affordable) shall have no political controversies. The concept is storage of water through spread over river beds and storage sites. The paper also suggests measures for creating awareness among our people to make judicious use of water.