IWMI Suggests Rainwater Tanks Mandatory For New Housing Schemes

Country Representative, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Dr. Mohsin Hafeez Thursday suggested Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) for making mandatory rain-water storage tanks for new housing schemes

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Oct, 2021 ) :Country Representative, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Dr. Mohsin Hafeez Thursday suggested Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) for making mandatory rain-water storage tanks for new housing schemes.

"The store water can be used for gardening, toilets (flush), and for the carwash, etc." he said while speaking at the consultative meeting on 'demonstration of nature-based solutions for improving the resilience of groundwater aquifers here.

He said, Islamabad gets a lot of rain and the rainwater is wasted or becomes the reason for flash or urban flooding, and the city has witnessed this during the current monsoon season when posh areas of Islamabad got flooded, caused huge damages to infrastructure and public property including vehicles.

"This can be avoided if we opt for nature-based solutions" he added.

Dr. Mohsin Hafeez said, "We are working in Pakistan as well as in Islamabad with relevant stakeholders in providing evidence-based scientific solutions to overcome issues of water.

"We need to know what the challenges and issues of water in Islamabad are and within one year how we can provide sustainable climate-resilient solutions, those solutions need to be site-specific" he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Muhammad Ashraf, Chairman, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), said, "together with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Pakistan and Capital Development Authority (CDA) we are doing water resources assessment of the entire Islamabad for surface water as well as groundwater and identifying research sites".

Based on this assessment, he said, a draft for developing the groundwater and surface water legal framework is also in progress.

Engr. Syed Munawar Shah, Member Engineering, Capital Development Authority (CDA) said that the current government encouraged working on the idea of finding nature-based solutions.

"We have developed a PC-1 to overcome the shortage of water in Islamabad. Islamabad relies only on two water sources i.e., surface water and groundwater resources. Groundwater table of the capital is depilated at the rate of one meter every year whereas Islamabad gets almost 1.5-meter rainfall each year" he added.

CDA, he said, would establish at least 50 wells initially to capitalize on the winter rains and the remaining 30 wells would be completed by June 30 2022 before the next monsoon season.

The Member CDA appreciated Country Representative, IWMI's suggestion of making it mandatory for all upcoming CDA and FGEHA sectors as well as private housing schemes, those who get their land plans approved by CDA, to have rain-water tanks.

Advisor to the Prime Minister on CDA Affairs, Mr. Ali Nawaz Awan said, "Water is a very technical issue, and I have been advocating for this fundamental right since I was in the opposition. We never imagined that Islamabad would face the non-availability of water, but sectors such as G-10, G-11, I-10, G-13, etc. are facing extreme water shortage." After the 1991 Water Accord, he said, the capital city can't get water from Indus until all four provinces agreed on it.

After the PTI government, "We have started various initiatives and projects to overcome the issue of water. Mega projects have been started in collaboration with FWO to bring 100 mgd water from Ghazi Brotha for Islamabad."