QUETTA: Governor of Balochistan Justice (retd) Amanullah Khan Yasinzai has underlined the need to face the challenges of uncontrolled population growth and said lack of urban planning and unregulated urbanisation, due to rural-urban migration and influx of refugees in Quetta, have further burdened the already strained water resources.

Speaking at a function held here on Thursday in connection with World Water Day, he said that the Public Health Engineering Depart­ment (PHED) was making efforts to rehabilitate a desa­lination plant in Quetta and working on constructing dams which would provide some relief to the water-deficient city. “But, I believe, to turn the situation around, we need to take on board our scholars who are keeping abreast of the latest research and technological advancements.”

The function was organised by the Balochistan Rural Development Programme (BRSP) in collaboration with the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, PHED, Wasa and GIZ, a Germany-based NGO.

PHE Minister Noor Moha­mmad Dummar, German Con­sul General in Karachi Holger Ziegler, PHE Secre­tary Saleh Nasar, former railway minister Roshan Khur­shid Bharucha and CEO of BRSP Nadir Gul Barrech also spoke on the occasion. Offi­cials of line departments, tea­chers, students, civil society members and other people attended the function.

Mr Barrech said the BRSP was working to empower communities to enable the people to sustain and replicate BRSP interventions in their villages. “This has been especially true in case of water and sanitation projects. BRSP and GIZ are continuously working to help Bal­o­chistan reach Sustainable Development Goal-15 by 2030,” he said.

“So far, BRSP has completed 729 irrigation schemes, which have benefited over 150,000 households, improved 743 Karezes, built 57 recharge structures and trained over 93,000 individuals trained on resource management,” he said.

Mr Ziegler said: The bitter truth is that we are running out of water, a finite resource we have misused and abused for decades. Now is the time to combat this crisis. We must implement best practices and use technological solutions such as the Decen­tralised Was­tewater Treat­ment Sys­tem installed in Balochistan University of Information Technology, Eng­ineering and Manage­ment Sciences today.”

Emphasising that Quetta’s water supply was limited, the PHE secretary said: “The fast-depleting water reso­urces in the region call for prompt action in right direction. A number of dams are in pipeline and we hope that we will be able to meet the demand for water in the coming years.”

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2021