(MENAFN – Gulf Times) As Pakistan faces worsening water scarcity and trouble sourcing international cash for hydropower dams that it says it needs it has turned to an unlikely source of cash: A fundraising campaign backed by the country’s top court judges.
The country’s green-leaning Prime Minister Imran Khan backs the effort.
Khan has urged Pakistanis living overseas to donate generously to the effort, comparing the battle to combat water scarcity to a holy war.
Nisar has said he took up Pakistan’s water worries as a personal campaign after Syed Mehar Ali, commissioner of the country’s Indus water treaty, testified in a court hearing last July about worsening water scarcity risks in the country.
Ali told the court that the country’s three western rivers the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab carry nearly 140 million acre feet (MAF) of water but the country has water storage capacity for less than 14 MAF.
Pakistan needs to store 25 MAF of water each year to help shore up water security, the commissioner said and that would require a series of new large dams, he said.
However, building them has proved difficult.
Pakistan’s government has provided funding for acquisition of land for both projects.
Dozens of farmers from Sindh province marched to Karachi last October to protest construction of the Diamer Basha dam on the Indus River.
However, he believes that if the water storage dam can be built, international investors will come in to provide the infrastructure for power generation from the dam.

Jagatsinghpur: Some ponds in Jagatsinghpur have already dried up and the water level of some other ponds and water bodies has been reducing drastically, according to reports.
With the temperature in Jagatsinghpur hovering between 31 and 34 degree Celsius, people and animals are set for a tough time ahead.
The district administration would make some announcements to tackle the water scarcity problems every summer, but many of them would not be implemented.
But the Forest Department and the industrial houses here are reportedly siphoning off lakhs of rupees in the name of planting trees, locals alleged.
People’s anger is mounting as neither the district administration nor the industries are taking any measures to reduce pollution.
The demonstration staged by the Paradip Parivesh Suraksha Committee at the regional office of the Odisha State Pollution Control Board February 20 was a reflection of this pent up anger.
Paradip Parivesh Suraksha Committee President Ayaskant Ray said, “The meeting with the Collector is successful.
Same is the fate of ponds near Muchukund Somnath temple and Sarbangasundari temple in ward no -2.
People use the pond at Behera sahi in ward number 18 for various purposes.
Basically, the death rituals are being performed here but the water level of this pond had been reducing drastically.

The IIT-Delhi has partnered with UK Research and Innovation to work on a 20-million-pound project to develop new approaches to tackle challenges to water security and sustainable development.
Eighty per cent of the world’s population lives in areas threatened by water security, but efforts to resolve this are repeatedly thwarted by factors such as pollution, extreme weather, urbanisation, over-abstraction of groundwater and land degradation, according to experts at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi.
"Access to clean water is essential for life and it is the stepping stone to sustainable development because it improves health, supports jobs, and enables food production," Richard Dawson from the School of Engineering at Newcastle University said.
Dawson is also the academic lead for the new Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub, which is led by the UK-based university.
"The water security of India is at stake because of the ever-increasing demands for water, not only for irrigation but also for industrial and domestic sector," AK Gosain of the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT-Delhi and a lead researcher with the hub said.
Most of the river basins in India have been found to be overexploited which is corroborated by the "alarmingly falling groundwater tables year after year", Gosain said, adding, "India accounts for 25 per cent of the total groundwater extracted by the world."
"The conditions are expected to further acerbate in the future due to the impacts of climate change on water resources.
"Hence, this is the most opportune time to judiciously look into the reasons why the present water stress has been created so that appropriate and sustainable solutions are obtained for the present which should also serve as a good guide to adaptation options under the future conditions," Gosain said.
Starting March 2019, the Newcastle University- led water security Hub will run for five years and bring together leading research partners from IIT-Delhi, School of Planning and Architecture, Colombia University, University of Leeds, University of Oxford and the International Water Management Institute.
(With inputs from agencies.)

This may seem completely unfathomable to you, however, the issue that hit Cape Town was just one example of an issue happening that experts had been warning us about for years.
The problem has caused 40 states to warn that water availability will be a major concern within their states within the next decade.
But, what’s the solution?
We need water to live, and unless something happens soon, it’s expected that the demand for fresh water could exceed the supply by 2030.
This is why cities need to start looking into water recycling.
Why You Should Recycle Water Just like any other form of recycling, water recycling takes water that’s already been used and repurposes it.
Wetlands: We have mentioned this above, but due to water not being removed from its natural habitat, this will allow wildlife to flourish, diminish floods, and create better breeding grounds for fish and other wildlife due to improved water.
Future Supply: The most important reason for recycling water is that it’ll benefit us when it comes to fresh drinking water.
Your City With many cities across the world being in some form of water stress, and at risk of running low on demand, it’s important that government steps in.
Water shortages are a massive problem in the 21st Century.

Water is life – a commodity which is difficult for man to survive without.
The issue of water is number six of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
There is a crisis brewing and most of the world’s leaders are putting this issue on the backburner.
With all the pollution that exists in our world today, in addition to the floods happening worldwide, millions living in the river basins, people carrying out building and infrastructural expansions across the board, we are looking at a water crisis in the eyes.
In the very near future, it is the countries who have water that will have power.
Water is mentioned in the Bible more than any other material/resources (Genesis 21: 14-15).
Further, the scriptures in 2 Kings 2: 19, shows us that a city can be in a good place but without water, the land will be unproductive.
Drought and famine would cause the people of God to come unto Him.
Instead, they should begin to put a team in place who are critical thinkers to identify springs, dormant wells, a good water table, and put plans in place for safeguarding and developing such areas, with a view to sustain the nation and exporting this invaluable resource.
There also needs to be a flat-rate meter system in place for the poor.

A s Pakistan faces worsening water scarcity – and trouble sourcing international cash for hydropower dams it says it needs – it has turned to an unlikely source of cash: A fundraising campaign backed by the country’s top court judges.
The drive aims to raise as much as $14 billion for two major dams.
Nisar retired in January from the court, but the current panel of top judges has taken over the push.
Some politicians from government opposition parties have dismissed the effort, calling it inappropriate and doomed to fail.
“Building dams is not the responsibility of the court,” said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of Pakistan People’s Party.
But efforts to solicit donations from as far away as the United States and Britain, largely from expatriate Pakistanis, have raised $70 million as of mid-February toward the “Chief Justice Dam Fund”, according to the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s website.
The country’s green-leaning Prime Minister Imran Khan backs the effort.
“Water scarcity has been Pakistan’s number one issue and the country may face shortages by 2025 if dams are not built,” Khan warned in a state television address last September.
Nisar has said he took up Pakistan’s water worries as a personal campaign after Syed Mehar Ali, commissioner of the country’s Indus water treaty, testified in a court hearing last July about worsening water scarcity risks in the country.
Ali told the court that the country’s three western rivers – the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab – carry nearly 173 billion cubic meters of water but the country has water storage capacity for less than 17.3 billion cubic meters.

Hyderabad: February 24, 2019.
(PCP) Chairman Sindhi Sangat Sindh Mansoor Khaskheli has said, despite being a Agro -economic hub, Sindh is facing worst kind of water scarcity, especially tail-end growers continuously protesting against water scarcity but federal and provincial governments have turned blind eye towards them.
In an issued statement on Saturday, the chairman of Sindhi Sangat Sindh Mansoor Khaskheli has expressed a serious concern over recent WHO report regarding drought in Sindh and Balochistan.
In 2018, less than 10% of the projected annual rainfall was received in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
Sindh’s coastline stretches over 250 kilometres, between Karachi and Badin districts.
River Indus also merges into the Arabian Sea, which further flows into small rivers and waterways and forms a delta, but due to worst water scarcity in River Indus sea is encroaching on land and groundwater is becoming marine water.
According to an estimate, more than 1,500,000 acres of land have become completely barren due to sea encroaching.
Sindh is already facing water shortages building more dams on River Indus will make situation even worse, water is the basic need of all living things but Unfortunately, in Sindh there is a huge scarcity of water and people of Sindh are forced to drink contaminated water.
70% of Sindh’s economy is dependent on agriculture and a large part of that economy already stands destroyed due to water shortage and mismanagement of the provincial government’s agriculture policies.
Sindh being a tail-end province must be given its due share.

By Roshan Din Shad MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Feb 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As Pakistan faces worsening water scarcity – and trouble sourcing international cash for hydropower dams it says it needs – it has turned to an unlikely source of cash: A fundraising campaign backed by the country’s top court judges.
Last year Mian Saqib Nisar – then the country’s chief supreme court judge – donated a million Pakistani rupees ($7,400) of his own money to start the drive, calling water shortages a major national threat.
"Building dams is not the responsibility of the court," said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of party Pakistan Peoples Party.
"Water (scarcity) has been Pakistan’s number one issue and the country may face shortages by 2025 if dams are not built," Khan warned in a state television address last September.
"Pakistanis, do take part in this jihad," the prime minister urged.
Nisar has said he took up Pakistan’s water worries as a personal campaign after Syed Mehar Ali, commissioner of the country’s Indus water treaty, testified in a court hearing last July about worsening water scarcity risks in the country.
Ali told the court that the country’s three western rivers – the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab – carry nearly 140 million acre feet (MAF) of water but the country has water storage capacity for less than 14 MAF.
But building them has proved difficult.
An effort to construct a large-scale hydropower dam in Gilgit Baltistan, a Kashmir border region disputed with India, for instance, has had trouble attracting multinational funding.
Dozens of farmers from Sindh province marched to Karachi last October to protest construction of the Diamer Basha dam on the Indus River.

COIMBATORE: While residents at several parts of the city have been struggling without proper water supply, residents of chetty street in Town Hall could not use the water even though it is supplied once in three days.
“Even though the color of the water has not changed to brown, it stinks of sewage.
Over 120 families were residing at the street.
He said that they have been receiving sewage mixed water for the past six months and they have complained about the issue to the corporation officials multiple times but it was not sorted out.
“Every time we complained, corporation officials would dig some random place across the street, check the pipelines and assure us that the problem was sorted out.
We believe them only to receive the stinking water during next supply.
He said that it has become a practice for them to wash all the buckets whenever water is supplied, collect water in one or two buckets, once the sewage smell gets strong throw the collected water and go home.
All the families including those who have obtained household water connection, have been collecting water from Kuppanan goundar street which is over 1.5 kilometers away or purchasing water, he explained.
Meanwhile, MLA Amman Arjunan who visited the spot to pacify the residents, had assured the residents to resolve the issue within four days and the residents had planned to escalate the issue if it is not resolved within the sought time.
We have started to check the pipelines at multiple points and the issue would be resolved, soon, they added.

​BENGALURU: While the politicians of JD(S) , Congress and the opposition BJP are leaving no stone unturned to criticize one another ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the prolonged dry spell has affected the livelihoods of thousands of people across Karnataka’s rural area.
The state is already facing a severe water shortage.
Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) said the rain received between September 1 and February 20 was less than 40-60 per cent in 2017-18.
This is a warning sign for the summer.
GS Srinivasa Reddy, director of KSNMDC, said “Since the rainfall was less between September and February, several tanks across the state which provide drinking water to villages have already dried up and hundreds of borewells, including many in Bengaluru, may go dry in the next two months,’’ he added.
North Karnataka is the worst affected and the situation is the same in other districts.
Currently, more than 500 villages are dependent on water tankers for drinking water.
Even Kodagu, the district that faced dire floods is facing a water scarcity problem because of long dry spells.
The farmers who are the worst affected, aren’t impressed with the antics of the politicians.
“All parties are fooling the people by blaming each other since they think when elections are held, this issue will be the hot topic of discussion,” said Mallesh, a farmer leader.