Recommendations also termed 100 percent metering as unavoidable to ensure water supply to urban areas, to boost the revenues and provide funding for capital works. 30,000 meters need to be installed in Punjab alone. It should be at least accomplished in towns, cities and big cities. These recommendations are the outcome of discussion at a seminar on "water for cities--urban challenges" organised by the Congress recently.
It was also recommended that construction of mega-dams should be started on fast track as well as use of Household Water Treatment appliances should be promoted. According to the report water shortage in agriculture sector is another serious issue. The water shortage for agriculture sector is about 29 percent for the year 2010 and will be 33 percent for 2025. At present irrigation uses about 93 percent of the water currently utilised in Pakistan. The rest is used for supplies to urban and rural population and industry. It is projected that water availability will be less than 700 cubic meters per capita by 2025.
It was recommended that keeping in view the financial constraints of the country, the community participation in the development, operation and maintenance may be encouraged. The successful examples of community participation projects like Changa Pani Programme and Orangi Pilot Project may be followed.
Water resources of Pakistan are experiencing trans-boundary water pollution. Streams and rivers of Central Punjab like Ravi, Sutlej, Chenab, Hudiara, Deg, Aik or Basanta are carrying pollution from India. Among these Hudsiara is the most polluted one, which is carrying untreated sewage and industrial pollution to Pakistan from Atari Border. According to the article-IV of Indus Water Treaty (1960), no country can pollute the water resources of the other country and if it does so, then the polluter will pay for that pollution. Despite of the signed treaty, as a result of this, water resources of Pakistan are getting more and more polluted day by day and it has wide range impact on environment like water, quality deterioration, habitat loss and human health problems. So, government should take up this violation of Indus water treaty on Pak-India bilateral and international forums.
According to the report an estimated 975.771 million gallons of water goes waste annually in Pakistan and 9,000 million gallons of waste water having 20,000 tons BOD loading rate are discharged into water. Proper treatment and reuse of this water for irrigation and landscaping can help resolve the problem. Algae based water treatment is an economical and efficient way of treating waste water, it is an economical and efficient way of treating waste water coming from different drains of Lahore under Water and Sanitation Authority (WASA). It can remove up to 90 percent of the contaminant from waste water with in few days. In Lahore PHA is responsible for the irrigation of different parks, green belts and golf courses. The landscaping of Lahore can be done with the treated waste water to save the precious fresh water resources. Moreover this treated wasted water can be used for the irrigation of agricultural land, which is currently facing water shortage problem. This would be economical and also ensure constant supply of shortage problem. The nutrients present in waste water can boost-up the crop yield and this in turn can save the cost that farmers have to pay in terms of fertilisers.
At this time, treatment and reuse of water should be the top most priority of the government to bring change in current circumstances. The 7,200 kanals of land allocated to WASA for waste water treatment is still not being used for any purpose. Government should take this practice into consideration to cope up with the current shortfall. Strong law enforcement and compliance is necessary for the protection of fresh water resources.
"Majority of the samples collected and analysed by Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) are found to be unfit for drinking purposes in all four provinces with out any exception. Arsenic found to be very high in the water samples collected from all major cities of Punjab, mainly due to release of toxic materials, effluents and its percolation in ground water. Iron concentration is found to be very high in districts of Mardan and Peshawar," report said.
The report also suggests that water supply agencies all over the country must ensure that the water being supplied to the user is free of bacterial contamination. Moreover, no water supply scheme should be approved unless detailed investigation of the quality, quantity and sustainability has been carried out. Also alternate source of water should be identified in areas where the quality of existing source of water supply is contaminated.
Each new user should be required to get a permit before installation of pumping equipment. Building bye-laws should be amended and enforced for private as well as public building for achieving maximum possible rainwater harvesting and recharge to ground water. Every user of ground water should be charged with certain amount of ground water, development and management surcharge. The amount so collected should be reserved and used for future development projects in the Lahore city for improved management of the resources, so that sustainability can be assured for generations to come.