July 11, 2008	Friday	Rajab 7, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 10: A water quality watchdog informed a Senate committee on Thursday that improper disposal of solid waste by the industrial concerns and other units was resulting in heavy pollution of ground water.

“We must improve the base water by installing more treatment plants near the industrial concerns,” Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) Chairman Dr Mohammad Akram Kahlown said while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology, which visited the PCRWR offices in Islamabad.

Dr Kahlown also highlighted the importance of recharging of ground water and low-cost methods of Canal Lining to prevent water losses.

Scientists working in the organisation urged the committee to facilitate award of better and special pay scales to them on the pattern of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) as their contribution was also “second to none”.

The members of the Senate committee underscored the need to develop an efficient network to disseminate research being carried out in the country’s premier institutions and the industry and agriculture.

“The ongoing research must benefit the common man, an average farmer, industrialist, etc. so that the quality of life of the people may be improved,” they observed.

The Senate committee asked the PCRWR to develop low-cost technologies for conserving water and to train farmers in economical use of water for achieving better yield, as Pakistan was a water-deficient country.

It especially called for developing such technologies which could be utilised successfully in difficult conditions of Balochistan and areas like Thar and Cholistan.

The committee also underlined the need of an integrated and well-coordinated approach in water research to benefit people associated with agriculture, which remained the mainstay of Pakistan’s economy.

“Let an average farmer utilise the indigenously developed technology in better and economical use of water.