ISLAMABAD, March 21: The minister of state for environment, Maj Tahir Iqbal (retired) on Friday urged people to preserve water to meet future needs.

In his message in connection with the World Water Day falling on Saturday, the minister said, water was fast becoming a critical issue and an area of major concern as it was getting scarce day by day.

“Water is precious for life and there is an urgent need for awareness raising among masses through media, about water preservation,” he added.

World water Day is being observed across the globe on Saturday with an aim to encourage greater global understanding of the need for more responsible water use and conservation.

Water in today’s context is a critical natural resource on the earth because of inadequate development, competing demands, wastage and degradation due to pollutants.

The United Nations, therefore, decided to observe March 22 every year as the ‘World Water Day (WWD)’ to focus attention of the world community on the importance, need and urgency of preserving the quality and augmenting the quantity of water available in all places.

“People must be taught to use minimise water and spread the message that conservation of water is very important,” the minister said.

The government is planning to launch water recycling and rainwater harvesting projects to solve the problems of water scarcity, he added.

He said the government was also perusing various projects to ensure provision of water throughout the country and to minimize its wastage.—APP