ISLAMABAD, Sep 26 (APP):Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam Thursday said flood and rain water would be used to recharge depleting ground water under Recharge Pakistan project.
He made these remarks while chairing a meeting on Recharge Pakistan and ground water depletion in the Ministry of Climate Change, a press release said.
He said the ground water depletion was due to the wrong policies of the previous governments.
‘Recharge Pakistan’ was one of the five components of the government’s Clean Green Pakistan movement. However, with the help of partners, flood water and rain water would be used to recharge underground aquifers, he added.
He said the government would protect and recharge 4th largest freshwater aquifers of the world for the future generations.
Pakistan Council for Research and Water Recharge (PCRWR) presented its findings in a presentation. Representatives of PCRWR told the Adviser that they had established their offices all across the country having 7 regional and 18 sub-regional offices.
Organization informed that they were conducting their work keeping in mind Pakistan Water Vision 2025, Sustainable Development Goals, National Water Policy 2018 and National Water Research Agenda 2016-2025.
The Minister was told that Pakistan’s fresh water was fast depleting because of unregulated pumping. About 93% of pumped water was being used for agricultural purposes while 90% of the drinking water and almost all the industrial water was being extracted from ground sources.
Pakistan’s 40% of cultivable land was ‘Barani’ land while government’s policies towards arid agriculture had further aggravated the situation.
Amin Aslam advised the organization to come up with solution especially for water management, rainwater harvesting and improving water quality.
Organization informed the adviser that they had done a laborious job in developing fresh water maps for the whole country at the depth of 1-50 meters and 51-100 meters.
They also apprised that they were using NASA’s technology called GRACE for this purpose. By the use of said technology real time monitoring of the underground fresh water aquifers was possible.
The Minister was also apprised about water recharge technology and fresh water skimming technology for water pumping. Heavy pumping of water in Indian Punjab, environmental flows and pollutants in Indian controlled rivers also came under discussion.
He said that his government was already working with Chinese government under China Pakistan Economic Corridor for ground water recharge and working group was already in place. He said that World Wildlife Fund was also facilitating government of Pakistan in a similar project.
Amin Aslam asked scientists of PCRWR to come up with a comprehensive plan how and where to recharge ground reserves.
