Pakistan : Terrorist Wahabi Islamic Rep Pakistan 6

[Naresh]

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[url="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010/06/19/story_19-6-2010_pg1_7"]Thirsty Pakistan gasps for water solutions[/url]



* US under secretary for global affairs says Islamabad will feed 23-29m fewer people by 2050 if it continues to rely on inefficient system of irrigation



KARACHI: Pakistan is facing a severe water shortage that if managed poorly can mean the country will run out of water in several decades, experts say, leading to mass starvation and possibly war.



The reliance on a single river basin, one of the most inefficient agricultural systems in the world, climate change and a lack of a coherent water policy means that as the country’s population expands, its ability to feed it is shrinking.



“Pakistan faces a raging water crisis,” said Michael Kugelman, programme associate for South and Southeast Asia Programme at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington.



“It has some of the lowest per capita water availability in Asia, and in the world as a whole,” he said. The vast majority – between 90 and 95 percent – of the country’s water is used for agriculture, US Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero said. The average use in developing countries is between 70 and 75 percent.



The remaining trickle is used for drinking water and sanitation for the country’s 180 million people.



Kugelman said at least 55 million Pakistanis lack access to clean water and 30,000 die each year just in Karachi from unsafe water.



“Of the available water today, 40 percent of it gets used,” Otero said. [color="#FF0000"]“The rest is wasted through seepage and other means,”[/color] she added. A recent report in the journal Science by Walter W Immerzeel of Utrecht University in the Netherlands said the Indus could lose large amounts of its flow because of climate change.



Consequences: If the current rate of climate change continues and Pakistan continues to rely on the inefficient flood system of irrigation, by 2050, it would be able to feed between 23-29 million fewer people than it can today [color="#FF0000"]with approximately double its current population.[/color]



Otero said Pakistan and the US are also exploring ways to improve the storage of water and Pakistan must look at ways to charge more for water as a way of encouraging conservation.



Such measures would likely be unpopular in the desperately poor nation. Measures to reduce subsidies on electricity, as mandated by the International Monetary Fund, amid chronic power shortages have battered the civilian government.



Pakistan needs to [color="#FF0000"]either pass land reforms or a series of laws to govern proper water allocation,[/color] Kugelman said. reuters



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