FAISALABAD: Pakistan has only 30 days water carryover capacity while India has that of 170 days, Egypt 700 days and America 900 days.

The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Chairman Muzammil Hussain said this while addressing the students and faculty members at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF).

He said the per capita annual water availability in Pakistan had reduced from 5,650 cubic meters in 1951 to an alarming 908 cubic meters, making it a water-scarce country. Pakistan could store only 10 percent of its annual river flows against the world average of 40 per cent, he added.

Ironically, instead of increasing its water storage capacity, Pakistan lost about one-fourth storage of its dams, he regretted. The live water storage capacity that used to be 16.26 MAF in 1976 had reduced to 13.68 MAF, which was equal to only 30-day carry over capacity as compared to India’s 170 days, Egypt’s 700 days and US’ 900 days. He said the capacity had to be increased from 30 days to at least 120 days.

“To overcome the impending water scarcity, we need to have more water storage sources, besides practicing good water conservation and management strategies,” the chairman said.

He said Wapda was constructing different projects, including five dams, three hydro power projects, one canal and one water supply scheme currently. These projects were being completed under ‘Decade of Dams’ plan, to be completed phase-wise from 2023 to 2029, he added.

He said Wapda had been tremendously contributing as a vibrant organisation towards national development by harnessing the vital resource of water.

Diamer Basha, Mohmand and Nai Gaj dams, Dasu hydro power project, Kachhi Canal extension, Sindh barrage and K-IV projects are underway, he said adding that with completion of these projects, the gross water storage capacity of Pakistan would increase from 13 million acre feet (MAF) to more than 24 MAF, which would be sufficient to irrigate another 1.6 million acres of land.

He said 950 million gallons water per day would also be made available for drinking purpose to Karachi and Peshawar as well. The installed hydel generation capacity would be doubled to cross 18,000MW with an addition of 9,000MW on completion of these projects. The projects would also create about 35,000 job opportunities during the construction phase, he added.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2021