Islamabad
June 5, 2021
Islamabad: The Ministry of Science and Technology and Capital Development Authority (CDA) Friday agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the resolution of the water issue of the capital city.
This was agreed during a meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz.
CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmad, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) Chairman Dr Muhammad Ashraf and Indus River System Authority (IRSA) Member Asjad Imtiaz Ali were present during the meeting.
The PCRWR chairman gave a detailed presentation regarding water issue of the capital and intervention which could be used for the better management of both ground water and surface water.
PAKISTAN’s burgeoning population, changing climate patterns and poor planning have led to the depletion of the country’s resources, particularly water. Pakistan has been confronting water scarcity for a long period of time, but no effective water storage strategy has been adopted by successive governments.
According to the National Annual Plan 2019-20, the per capita availability of water in the country has decreased to an alarming level of 935 cubic metres from 5,260 cubic metres over the last seven decades.
If the government fails to formulate an effective conservation storage strategy now, the per capita water availability would decrease to 860 cubic metres by 2025 and even down to 500 cubic metres by 2040.
Of politicians and promises
May 03, 2021
Opinion is free; but fact is fact. However, both opinions and promises are free. In 2019, the then minister for science and technology, who now holds the portfolio of information, had announced that bottled safe drinking water would soon be made available for Re1 a litre, and the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) was making preparations in this regard. The price of the water suggests that the plan was meant to benefit the common man.
Now after a year and a half down the line, it has been revealed that only the bottle costs Rs7. Obviously, the minister did not do his homework before he made the alluring announcement. Given his young age and inexperience, he sometimes resorts to pompous rhetoric. He is not alone in promising the moon to the people. The promise was not pure wind, however. It was a case of, there is no smoke without fire. The PCRWR chairman has cleared the fog enveloping the issue belatedly though that fil
PCRWR chairman says he had discussed ‘filtered water with then science minister
PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
In August 2019, then federal science and technology minister Fawad Chaudhry had introduced the first locally-manufactured bottled mineral water costing Re1 per litre.
Around 1.5 years later, the project aiming to provide bottled water at an unbelievably low rate has yet to see the light of day.
Back then, Fawad, who is now the information minister, had made the announcement about the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) preparing “Safe Drinking Water”, which cost one rupee per litre.
He added that the low-cost bottled water would first be used at the Prime Minister Office, the President House, the Parliament House and the GHQ and then be provided to the public.
LAHORE: A holistic approach and reliable database on water resources and their usage across Pakistan is the key to achieving water, energy and food security in the fifth most climate-vulnerable country of the world, according to the panelists at a UN Food Systems Summit Independent Dialogue.
Organised by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the online dialogue highlighted the need for transformative approaches to promote equity and inclusion in World Economic Forum (WEF) nexus governance for sustainable water, energy and food systems.
Other outcomes of the discussion, which included contributions from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Hisaar Foundation, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), FAO, Global Water Partnership and Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), flagged the need for a substantial increase in research and development funds for the agriculture sector th