WATER is one of the most precious natural resources and is crucial for sustained economic development.

It will be naive to state that all rural poverty problems could be solved through improving access to water alone. Poverty is an outcome of complex interactions of different actions and policies.

Other production factors must also be considered. Water resources are not only finite but also exhaustible. For sustainable use of water and to address poverty alleviation issues, water resources need to be managed properly.

Following are some of the aspects which should be considered at various levels:

(i) water should be considered as an economic asset, a strategic resource and security issue;

(ii) policy makers and citizens must address eco-systems, social changes and processes with regard to long-planning; (iii) at the societal level, it entails collective commitments for our common future. Providing for the present needs without compromising the interests of future generations,

(iv) improving both the know-how and water management commitment through design and implementation of stakeholder-oriented integrated frameworks for water resources; water policy be developed with reference to complete hydro systems e.g. the recharge of aquifers and the movement of water through river basins towards the sea taking into account natural interaction of surface water and groundwater both in terms of quantity and quality covering the whole of river basin.

Water must be viewed in a holistic manner in its natural state and in balancing competing demand - be it domestic, agricultural, industrial and environmental - in a way that ensures sustainability of the resource.

Pakistan is an agricultural country and agriculture serves as an “engine” of economic growth, and irrigation-led technological changes are the key drivers behind productivity enhancement in the agriculture sector. This is due to its potential to increase food grain productivity, employment and income, and thereby alleviate poverty and hunger.

Through proper water management, water is made available as per requirements. Proper water availability results in increased crop yields, more cropped area, cropping intensity and crop diversification etc. Furthermore, it provides opportunity for production of high value crops, multiple cropping and year round crop production. Consequently, there is increased income from crop production, family consumption of food and stabilisation of farm family income. Better access to irrigation water helps in increased on-farm and off-farm employment opportunities and income. The problems of water scarcity, water excess and deterioration of water quality could be solved.

A country with scarce water resources might wish to import goods and commodities that require a lot of water in their production (water intensive production) and export products or services that require less water (water extensive products). The specific return (Rs per m3) of water is high for cotton, vegetables and fruit and low for rice and sugarcane.

About 97 per cent of available freshwater is used for agriculture. Expansion of irrigated lands is one major factor. To-date most increases in food crop yields took place in irrigated lands. Whereas, progress in rain fed agriculture is very poor. The potential of rain fed areas should be exploited by adopting innovative technologies such as introduction of new crops, supplemental irrigations, deficit irrigations, water harvesting and conservation, precision irrigations. These practices could lead to fast yield increases in rain fed lands. These would generate an increase in food production without a concomitant increase in water for irrigation.

Pakistan is an arid country (water scarce) where water is distributed unevenly both in time and space, which demands special management for its equitable distribution and should synchronise with crops/plants requirements. With an increasing population and its legitimate demand for an improved standard of living, requiring increased economic development and agricultural production, it faces an enormous challenge in allocating and protecting the limited resource of water. It is estimated that nearly half of the urban water is wasted through water loss due to inefficiency (houses, mosques).

Similarly, irrigation water, which represents about 97 per cent of total consumption of fresh water, is estimated to be less than 50 per cent efficient. If irrigation efficiency could be made only five per cent more efficient, 4.7 million-acre feet (MAF) would be saved or available in addition annually. The saved water may be utilised to bring more area under cultivation or irrigate crops at critical stages which suffer due to moisture stress. So one of the best ways to free up water for other uses is to improve the productivity of water in agriculture.

In this way water productivity will not only be increased for consumed water but water will be saved. Higher yields of up to 15 per cent can be achieved from reduced loss of water in conveyance system and fields. Increased yield of more than 25 per cent is possible through timely availability of water and reducing crop stress. Clearly effective implementation of WC/DM practices could go a long way towards solving the water troubles. Without a comprehensive WC/DM campaign, such as public awareness, provision of efficient techniques etc., it will have little effect.

Challenges posed by growing scarcity of water can be addressed through two strategies: supply management, which involves activities to locate, develop and exploit new sources of water; demand management, which addresses the mechanism and offers incentives that promote water conservation and its efficient use. The experience suggests that meeting the challenges of water scarcity will require more vigorous demand management with comprehensive water policy reforms to make better use of existing supplies, and supply management involving highly selective development for exploitation of new water supplies.

The task of demand management is to generate both-physical and economic- savings by increasing output per unit of evaporative loss of water, reducing water pollution, reducing loss of water to the economic sink. The potential for generating water savings and economic gains through demand management appears to be considerable.