Depleting Water Resources Call For Conservation,management: Leghari

Umer Jamshaid Published June 09, 2021 | 07:12 PM

Punjab Irrigation Minister Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari said Wednesday that water conservation and management should be the unavoidable part of every one as depleting water resources have become a biggest threat

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Jun, 2021 ) :Punjab Irrigation Minister Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari said Wednesday that water conservation and management should be the unavoidable part of every one as depleting water resources have become a biggest threat.

He was talking to President of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) Mian Tariq Misbah and Vice President Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry at the LCCI.

The minister said that the country had been in the grip of water scarcity. He said that the water table in Pakistan was falling at the rate of one meter per year, asserting that only way to conserve water was through awareness at national level. It was very important to raise awareness at the level of universities. "We should make our friends, family and people around us more aware about water shortage challenges," he underscored.

Leghari said in order to increase water storage capacity, it was very important to build dams, as currently because of the lack of dams.

The minister informed the LCCI office-bearers that the government had planned to increase the storage capacity of water from to 13 million acre feet to 24 million acre feet.

On this occasion, LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah said that a law should be made to penalize people who used water through pipes to wash their cars at home, arguing that water shortage could have serious implications for food security as there would be no water to irrigate crops.

He said that world average for storing water from river flow was 40 per cent while in Pakistan this ratio was only 10 pre cent. He said that after the budget, an awareness session would be held in the LCCI to apprise the members about the water shortage challenges and the way forward to deal with the water crisis.