CLIMATE change has a potential to destabilise politics, both at national and international levels. Just think about the rising temperature that is bringing seasonal changes.
Torrential rains, floods and droughts are essential features of the phenomenon. Crop patterns and human settlements may also change. People may be displaced both due to flood or scarcity of water. Monsoon may hit new regions and abandon the old ones.
In the years ahead. one may witness increasing body of water rushing and gushing down the Himalayas and reaching the Arabian Sea with a lightening speed — destroying crops and settlements and killing people and livestock. Even the Hakra River (this year it flowed), as mighty as the Indus but dead since centuries, may revive; the Sutlej River may also change route and rejoin the Hakra. Other years one may witness droughts, less rains and no melting glaciers — humans wandering here and there in search of water.
The government, for sure, has to take remedial measures to cope with the change in the climate. Fortunately, infrastructure is there. Strict implementation of environmental laws constitutes essentials of good governance.
Devolution of power is another. More than these steps are the reformulation of development policy so that it confirms to the environmental requirements. Use of poison in agriculture needs to be banned and the industrial units have to safely manage the untreated industrial effluent that not only contaminates the soil and water but also inflicts damage to human health.
At the same time, it is a myth that Pakistan can’t have additional water for catering to agricultural needs. The wastewater, which constitutes 32 MAF, goes waste every year. This water can be tapped and treated through bioremediation. The inputs (aquatic plants and microbes) are indigenously available and no equipment is needed to be imported at inflated price for the purpose.
If the government commits to make available to the country this 32 MAF water, local and provincial governments may initiate and complete the required projects on priority basis. The metropolitans, union councils and housing societies across the country may initiate projects to prevent the sewage water falling into canals and rivers.
Actually a model project has been completed in Islamabad by the National Institute of Bioremediation by diverting sewage of Chak Shahzad to the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC). The project has been completed in less than one year and the treated wastewater is being utilised for cultivation of about 500 acres.
If such model projects are implemented, only Lahore produces annually the water that is enough to fill the Tarbela Dam. The additional benefit of trapping wastewater and using bioremediation will help drastically cut down the health budget due to reduction in waterborne diseases. About Rs114 billion is spent annually for treatment of those who fall victim to pollution in soil and water bodies due to non-treatment of sewage water and industrial effluent.
About 50 per cent agricultural needs are being met through pumping out groundwater which is dangerous for aquifers of the dry region particularly those which receive less rain and the water channels (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej) have ceased to carry floods.
The blind pumping may contaminate water causing a number of diseases among human beings. The major load on aquifers occurs during the wheat crop sowing season. Agronomists say, if proper planning is done, the entire water needs of wheat crop can be met by trapping and treating wastewater.
The government will have to reset its priorities vis-à-vis education and information. The youth need to be educated about the role they can play to keep the environment friendly. The curricula can be organised in an appropriate manner. Water not only needs to be saved but properly utilised keeping in mind that no water is wastewater. Actually, not understanding nature is the worst form of ignorance.