LAHORE: Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif has said that Pakistan’s water needs in future could be met if the abundant water resources that the country has been blessed with are utilised judiciously.

Addressing a seminar organised by Wapda in connection with the World Water Day on Monday, he said the government was bearing 80 per cent expenditure to run the irrigation system while recovery stood at 20 per cent only.

“The quantum of water, pumped through a tube-well at a cost of three thousand rupees, is provided to farmers by the government for just Rs85 with the help of irrigation system. Since there is no incentive, there is no saving of water and we will continue wasting it carelessly. Water conservation is not the sole duty of the government but a collective responsibility of society,” he said.

He pointed out that around 30 million acre cubic feet of water flowed downstream of Kotri Barrage annually.

Earlier, Wapda chairman Zafar Mehmood highlighted the importance of water and its conservation.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2015

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