Daily Times

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Pakistan on Thursday organized a capacity building workshop titled “Media training for effective reporting on water governance” at a local hotel. The aim of the workshop was to sensitize journalists on water governance and how better management of water resources can help to ensure availability of water for different sectors, especially agriculture and industry, among others.

The workshop aimed to help journalists understand the complex water issues in Punjab for effective reporting and also discussed the significance of Punjab Water Act 2019 and the challenges in its implementation. The speakers highlighted risks of climate change being faced by Pakistan in the form of recent flood resulting in USD 30 billion, 1,700 deaths, affecting 33 million people, they stressed the need of small and local water reservoirs to meet challenges. Pakistan has been listed in top 14 countries which were facing water scarcity, 80 percent of total available water was being used to irrigate two major crops wheat and rice, to save water and avoid scarcity, modern techniques of irrigation would have to be used.

The speakers said that about 1.2 million tube wells in Punjab were extracting water which badly disturbed ground water level and this level rapidly downed in Lahore, Multan, Lodhran, Minchanabad, Vehari and some other areas in last 10 years. Dr Mohsin Hafeez, Country Representative Pakistan IWMI and Project Leader, said the IWMI Pakistan was working on various water-related reforms through the UK Aid-funded programme, such as water accounting and water resources assessment, Data as a Service (DaaS), water allocation systems, groundwater management information system, and irrigation demand management, among others. These reforms will improve water governance in the Indus Basin to support the implementation of national policies (water and climate change), as well as promote sustainable use of water in Punjab to support the implementation of Punjab Water Act 2019.”

Syed Muhammad Abubakr, Communication Specialist IWMI Pakistan, Muhammad Amir Khan, Chief Strategic Planning and Reform Unit Punjab Irrigation Department, Malik Muhammad Akram, Director General on Farm Water Management, researchers Abdul Rehman Cheema, Umar Waqas Liaqat, Hafsa Aeman, Kanwal Waqar and Dr Jehanzeb Masud Cheema also highlighted the importance of water through their research works. The IWMI through UK Aid-funded Water Resource Accountability in Pakistan (WRAP) Programme, selected Okara as the pilot district for the implementation of water-related reforms, such as water accounting and water resources assessment.