Chairman Water Commission Calls For Strategies To Resolve Water Issues

The Chairman of Supreme Court-mandated Commission on Water and Sanitation of Sindh Justice Retired Amir Hani Muslim said water is life which essentially means that we must divert our attention and develop strategies and action plans to solve water-related issues.

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Jul, 2018 ) :The Chairman of Supreme Court-mandated Commission on Water and Sanitation of Sindh Justice Retired Amir Hani Muslim said water is life which essentially means that we must divert our attention and develop strategies and action plans to solve water-related issues.

This he said while speaking as chief guest at the closing ceremony of Diploma Course in "Flood Forecasting and Flood Hazard Management" held at U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W) Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro on Saturday.

The Chairman said that the country had witnessed devastating floods, prolonged drought, heat waves and erratic weather patterns which affected almost every aspect of life including agricultural productivity, livestock, food security, emergence of new diseases, changes in disease vectors, recession of the Himalayan glaciers, hydropower generation, etc.

He said the Indus River System is the lifeline of Pakistan's economy and water availability in Pakistan has decreased over time.

Currently, per capita availability of water in Pakistan is down to almost 1000 cubic meters from more than 5,000 cubic meters in 1947 and the country is at the verge of becoming a water-stressed country.

"The situation is aggravated further due to the fact that Pakistan is considered as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change", he said and added that the water security has emerged as an impediment to sustainable development in Pakistan and inefficient management of water leads to losses greater than 50 percent, reliable drinking water is accessible to less than 15 percent of the population, and inadequate sanitation contributes to preventable waterborne diseases and associated environmental and health issue.

He appreciated the efforts made by the water centre of Mehran University serving as a nucleus and a laboratory to facilitate adoption of necessary measures in translation of water Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).

He suggested that with collaborative efforts through this Centre the policy measures and action plans could be identified which could help to address the Water Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-6) as per Pakistan's commitment to the United Nations.