Wapda chairman for increasing water capacity to 120 days
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In connection with International Water Day that will be observed on Sunday, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) General (retired) Muazamil Hussain said that per person water availability has been decreased to a dangerous level in Pakistan.
In a message, he said the availability of water in Pakistan has been affected due to the global climate change “Pakistan has the water carryover capacity of about 30 days and we need to take this at 120 days,” the chairman said.
Like other parts of the world, the international water day will be observed on 22 March.
Gen Muzzamil Hussain said, “For the improvement of water security in the country, we need water management, its better consumption and to increase the water reservoirs capacity.”
As per the data available, Pakistan has only three major storage dams having just 30 days carryover capacity whereas China has 23,843 dams, the USA 9,265, India 5,102, Japan 3,116, Brazil 1,392, Korea 1,305, Canada 1,166, South Africa 1,114, Spain 1,082, Turkey 976, Iran 800, France 713, UK 607, Australia 507 and Germany has 308 dam.
According to a water bank report, the country’s water availability has reduced to 935 cubic metres per capita (per person per year) from 5,260 cubic metre per capita in the last 70 years.