Water resource is a necessity for sustaining life on earth.
According to an IMF report, Pakistan ranks third among countries most affected by water scarcity.
It said the country touched the “water stress line” in 1990 and crossed the “water scarcity line” in 2005.
And worst of all is that the authorities have given no indication that they plan to do anything about any of this increasing water shortage.” The UN report also highlights that the most immediate threats to the masses would be of increasing water shortage, and Neil Buhne, UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Pakistan, said, “No person in Pakistan, whether from the north with its more than 5,000 glaciers, or from the south with its ‘hyper deserts’, will be immune to this.” Recent flash floods as a result of heavy rainfall have been witnessed in different areas of Pakistan for instance Lahore and Faisalabad.
Recycling at household level would also help in solving the problem.
For gardening purpose, use simple rainwater barrels.
Apart from it, rain garden could be constructed so that it reuses water that would otherwise run off into the sewage systems.
For the agriculture system, irrigation management practices may solve the problem.
Along with the rain-fed management practice, some techniques are the use of supplemental irrigation and water harvesting techniques, such as rain catchment systems and weirs or sand dams.
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GURUGRAM: A two-kilometre-long road has been dug in the protected Aravali region, in what appeared to be a major violation of environmental norms.
TOI visited the area on Sunday and found that earth has been dug up from Kharak village to Raisina village, which local residents alleged was the act of farmhouse owners for illegally laying water pipelines from borewells situated in low-lying areas to their properties on the hills because of water scarcity in the region.
“This is not the first time that the road has been dug up for laying down a water pipeline in the area.
However, this is probably the first time that such a long stretch has been dug to lay the pipeline.
It is because water table on the hill has declined in the past three to four years.
Green activists have slammed the farmhouse owners for openly flouting the Supreme Court’s ban on extraction of groundwater in 448 square kilometre area of the Aravalis in Gurugram and Faridabad.
Besides, the area falls under the Aravali Notification Act and therefore no construction is allowed in the area.
In the past eight months, 11 cases of tree-felling and illegal construction have been reported in the Aravalis.
Four of which were reported from Raisina village.
Despite repeated attempts, D Hembram, conservator of forests (south circle), could not be contacted.

Nagpur: Despite five weeks of monsoon, major dams in Nagpur division only have 23% water storage, which may lead to water shortage after the season is over.
Last year, Vidarbha had received poor rainfall and the dams had not filled up completely.
The medium size dams of the division have relatively better storage at 41% while small dams are 25% full.
The storage in major dams of Amravati division is marginally better than Nagpur at 24%.
The small and medium dams of west Vidarbha have lesser water than Nagpur division.
The biggest source of worry for the city is poor storage in Totladoh reservoir.
Ever since construction of Chaurai dam on the Pench river upstream, Totladoh is not getting filled up.
Due to low stock in Totladoh, Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) has asked Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to lift water from Kanhan and use as less water as possible from the reservoir.
It has also asked NMC to enforce a water cut in the city.
Nagpur will be fortunate if work on the project starts before next monsoon.

by Misbah Saba Malik ISLAMABAD, July 16 (Xinhua) — Noor Ahmad Leghari, a farmer in Nawab Shah district of Pakistan’s south Sindh province, is worried about the future of his cotton crop as he couldn’t get much irrigation water this year owing to the ongoing water crisis in the country.
Besides Leghari, thousands of farmers in the country are feared to meet the same fate due to water scarcity in Pakistan.
In addition, the storage last year was 3.6 million acre feet and this year it was only 0.22 million acre feet, revealing a big gap in storage capacity and inflows.
Uzair Qamar, professor of water resource management and engineering in University of Arid Agriculture Faisalabad, told Xinhua that this year snow melting process was slower than previous years in the country’s northern mountainous regions owing to low temperatures.
He added that the cropping area irrigated by canal water in the country’s Punjab and Sindh province has increased over the years, but new dams were not constructed, resulting in the widening gap of supply and demand of irrigation water.
Pakistan’s top water reservoirs Tarbela Dam and Mangla Dam are already facing erosion and their water storage capacity is likely to reduce by 33 percent by 2020.
Experts believe that in the absence of new dams, the irrigation system of the country will be badly affected.
Qamar said that the issue is more serious than lack of water for irrigation.
The court also asked the public to donate money for the cause.
Pakistan is an agriculture economy and about 70 percent of its population is directly or indirectly associated with this sector.

Jammu Kashmir Jammu, July 15 The Jagti satellite township for displaced Kashmiri Pandits has been facing severe drinking water crisis due to frequent snags in the 4-km-long water pipeline.
Irate over the “indifferent” attitude of the authorities concerned, residents have made several complaints to Governor NN Vohra on his Twitter handle @jandkgovernor seeking early redressal.
They only supply water to their respective blocks.
Official sources said the township had been facing shortage of drinking water due to faulty pipeline that passes through a nullah before culminating at water storage tanks.
“The water requirement of the entire township is about 8-9 lakh gallons per day, but it is getting five lakh gallons.
It requires 38 lakh litres of water and we are supplying more than that.
ML Raina, Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants), admitted that there was water scarcity in the township and said it was due to flash floods in the nullah through which the water pipeline passes.
“We are making efforts to improve and ensure regular water supply to the township, but the pipeline suffers frequent snags due to flash floods in the nullah.
For improved and regular water supply, we require a dedicated power supply feeder, which will cost over Rs 55 lakh, while the shifting of pipeline from the nullah will cost around Rs 25 lakh.
We are hopeful of finding a permanent solution to the problem soon,” Raina said.

Aurangabad: Several parts of Aurangabad district, left reeling by severe water scarcity, are eagerly waiting for a revival of the monsoon.
The city and surrounding areas at noon on Saturday reported medium to heavy showers.
The lull in rainfall has increased the reliance on water tankers – which increased by 150 in number across Aurangabad district and a few surrounding areas from Marathwada.
This rise in number of water tankers was observed over a period of one week.
As per official records, the region is being supplied by 466 water tankers.
Aurangabad district alone accounts for as many as 440 tankers.
Barring Soygaon and Kannad talukas of Aurangabad district, seven talukas rely on water tankers after the summer.
Gangapur has been receiving a maximum of 111 tankers, followed by the tehsil limits of Aurangabad that receives 90 tankers.
As per official records, Aurangabad district has received only about 139 mm rainfall so far.
That is likely to be followed by chances of heavy rain during the subsequent 24 -hours.

TURA: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma announced the laying of new feeder main under Tura Phase I and II Water Supply Scheme in presence of PHE Minister Samlin Malgniang on Saturday evening at Circuit House Tura.
The project is estimated to cost Rs 35 crore and is being funded by North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS), Ministry of DoNER, Government of India.
The project was proposed by former Union Minister and South Tura MLA Agatha K. Sangma as Tura town had to face continuous water scarcity.
Expressing concern over a situation where young children were filling pots in public taps and from nearby streams, the Chief Minister said, “The picture of such situation has motivated us as a government to make a difference for the lives of our people.
When we took over the government, we decided that we will ensure and tackle the problem of water crisis.” Terming that government is committed to provide safe drinking water to its citizens, the Chief Minister said, “Due to paucity of funds, such projects cannot be taken up all at once for different parts of the State but in a phased manner, projects would be taken up in other parts of the State as well.” He also informed that under NESIDS, Government of India has sanctioned Rs.190 crore to Meghalaya, of which Rs.
He also informed that the government had been working on set goals with defined verticals viz., social, infrastructure and socio – economic development to ensure equitable development in the State.
Informing that Government of India is keen to ensure accelerated flow of funds for development of power, road and telecommunication, the Chief Minister said, “MDA Government was positively engaging with the centre for release of funds for infrastructure development sector.” Following the announcement of the project, the Chief Minister and PHE Minister held review meeting with officials of PHE department to discuss measures to improve water availability in Tura town including short term and long term agenda for ensuring better water supply.
In the meeting, the Chief Minister acknowledged the suggestions of the PHE department for laying of public utility ducts.
The Chief Minister has also asked different departments to come up with plans and proposals to address the challenge of jhum cultivation, which has posed a threat on the catchment areas, recharging of ground water and provision for rain water harvesting in colleges, schools and government institutions.
The PHE department also drew the attention of the Chief Minister and PHE Minister for procurement of Water Tanker in view of the A’chik Baptist Dalgipa Krima Convention, which will be hosted in Tura.

South Florida is desperate for a solution to Lake Okeechobee’s high-water discharges that hurt the coastal estuaries, their people, economies, and ecosystems.
But proposed deep injection wells (DIW) are just wasteful, permanently flushing excess water underground.
For a system in disarray, letting millions of gallons of water go down the drain may sound attractive, but it’s the wrong move for a state already facing worsening water shortages.
America’s Everglades also need freshwater desperately, not receiving anywhere near their historic flows from Lake Okeechobee.
More: Deep injection wells are old, flawed thinking Water scarcity is the future of Florida.
All five South Florida water regions predict critical shortages in the next 20 years and recommend new projects to store, not trash, water during wet periods to help us get through drier times.
DIW would waste water needed by the Caloosahatchee and Lake Okeechobee during droughts.
Throwing away water will aggravate water scarcity, harming our ecosystems and economy and making people and agriculture fear for tomorrow’s water supply.
Lucky for us, Everglades restoration offers a smarter alternative to DIW that addresses both our wet and dry problems.
Florida and its water managers should keep our focus on Everglades restoration and other good ways to protect Florida’s current and future water supply.

Amnesty International has called on Iran to ensure that Iranians have access to clean water and also to carry out an independent investigation into reports that security forces used “unnecessary and excessive force” against those who peacefully protested in Khuzestan Province over water scarcity and pollution.
“Iranian authorities should also ensure that people in Khuzestan and other provinces across Iran enjoy their right to access sufficient amounts of safe drinking water for personal and domestic uses,” the rights group said in a July 6 statement.
Dozens of people recently took to the streets of Khorramshahr and several other cities in the southwest to protest against shortages of water and demand clean and safe drinking water.
Some reportedly chanted slogans against the Iranian authorities.
Shots could be heard on videos circulated on social media from the June 30 protests in the port city of Khorramshahr.
Officials had said that one civilian and several police officers were injured in the violence.
State television said an unspecified number of demonstrators had been arrested.
It claimed that some of the protesters carried firearms.
Rights activists have said that dozens were detained in Khorramshahr, Abadan, and Ahwaz in connection with the protests.
The rights group called on the Iranian authorities “to ensure that all detainees are protected from torture and other ill-treatment and that anyone held solely for peacefully exercising their right to assembly is released.” Critics say mismanagement by the authorities, combined with years of drought, has led to a drop in river and groundwater levels in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan.

The early pre-monsoon rains come as a relief to the falling levels at reservoirs and the authorities were expecting that water level will increase due to rain in the catchment areas including Murree.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 5th Jul, 2018 ) :The early pre-monsoon rains come as a relief to the falling levels at reservoirs and the authorities were expecting that water level will increase due to rain in the catchment areas including Murree.
The federal capital is in severe grip of water scarcity as water level in major reservoirs of city had reached to dead level.
Director Water Supply of MCI, Nasir Jamil But hoped that the heavy rainfall was forecast during upcoming monsoon and it would fill the dams to their standard level.
He said present water level in Simly dam is 2248ft from sea level which is almost near to dead level of 2233ft adding that due to low level only 50 percent water is being supplied to the residents from Simly dam.
He said CDA is providing only 26 million gallons per day from Simly dam while 8 million gallons from Khanpur dam.
He said Water Supply Directorate was receiving more than 1000 complaints each day from which only 50 percent can hardly addressed through water tankers adding that Water Directorate was lacking sufficient funds to repair and maintain tankers.
He told that only 21 tankers are in position to provide water to the whole city of the federal capital.