ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: Keeping in mind the predictions about future water scarcity in the county and to prepare the much-needed workforce to grapple with the challenge, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has approved a three-year programme to upgrade the Department of Water Resources Management at the NWFP Agriculture University, Peshawar.

The Departmental Development Working Party (DDWP) of the HEC in a meeting held the other day approved a project to strengthen the department over a period of 36 months, an official press note said.

Besides providing infrastructural support, departments’ faculty would be trained in the state-of-the-art teaching techniques in the subject.

The project will help the department develop a comprehensive programme to cater to the future water management problems and issues for sustainable agriculture production, it said. It will also help develop, test, evaluate and promote high efficiency irrigation system.

The project includes upgradation of the existing laboratories, construction of four new laboratories, two classrooms, and provision of teaching aids. Faculty members would be trained through five short-term trainings on water resources management.