Water

Promotion and Awareness
ADB National Media Workshop on Water - Pakistan

17-19 April 2005
Islamabad, Pakistan

Session Descriptions

• Setting The Scene: Overview Of Water Issues In Asia
• Integrated Water Resources Management in Pakistan: The Path Towards a National Water Policy
• Water & Agriculture in Pakistan
• Bringing Safe Water and Sanitation To the Urban and Rural Poor
• Water and Large Infrastructure Projects in Pakistan

The opening series of presentations will provide attendees with an overview of the workshop; its purpose and what is hoped will be achieved over the next two days. Attention will also be paid to the essential role of the media and an overview of some of the key water issues affecting Pakistan and South Asia.

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From drinking and sanitation to irrigating crops, manufacturing activities, or as a vital component of the country's ecosystems, there are multiple demands on Pakistan's water resources. In a country with a current population of 144.5 million and expected to rise to 221 million by 2025, an integrated approach to the nation's water resources has never been more important.

Today, in Pakistan, however, there is still a certain degree of confusion over the allocation and sharing of water resources. Whereas water is a federal responsibility, much of the decisions surrounding irrigation and agriculture take place at a provincial level. There have also been criticisms in the past of inadequate co-ordination between water resource and user organizations, and a lack of inter-ministerial and inter-provincial bodies to oversee water sector planning. The continued drought is only serving to exacerbate the issue.

This session will examine how successfully Pakistan is moving towards an integrated approach to water management, and will look at some of competing issues over water resources. With a particular focus on provinces of Punjab and Sindh, areas that will be examined will include:

• The need for institutional strengthening and the potential role of water sector apex bodies
• The importance of water decision-making at the provincial level
• Providing an equitable allocation of water within the Indus River Basin and the importance of enhanced data collection
• Trans-boundary water sharing, such as the current tensions with India over the Baglihar dam
• The Government's National Water Policy and whether the right institutional structures have been put into place
• Whether IWRM is beginning to be adopted at a local level and what the tools will be for implementation.

The concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) will also be central to the following sessions, which will go into areas of the water debate more specifically.

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Pakistan's agricultural sector is under severe pressure today. The country has just endured its fifth successive year of drought, with national rainfall levels at 41% below normal. The shortfall is 88% in Sindh Province, 71% in Balochistan and 31% in the Punjab. There is no doubt, however, of agriculture's importance to the country contributing 25% of GNP, more than 60% of foreign exchange and employing 46% of the workforce.

But at what cost? Agriculture accounts for 93% of all water usage in Pakistan serving the country's 's vast irrigation system, comprising three reservoirs, 19 dams and 43 main canals totaling 57,000 kilometers. The vast Indus River plain is home to the largest continuous irrigation system in the world. Much of the irrigation system today, however, is threatened by water logging and salinity, reduced water storage capacity, over exploitation of groundwater and weak water management.

This session will look at how to introduce greater efficiencies into this vital sector as well as ensure that water shortages become confined to the past. Areas that will be discussed will include:

• How to achieve more crop per drop
• The development of small storage dams, spate irrigation and irrigation system rehabilitation
• Improving incentives to conserve water
• The need for a national drainage sector program
• The pros and cons of introducing water charges and achieving cost recovery
• More effective irrigation management
• The role of women in agriculture

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Whether it be rural or urban areas, it is clear that drinking water supply and sanitation is a growing problem in Pakistan.

In cities, such as Karachi, only 50% of the population have piped water supply with revenue from tariffs barely covering Operation & Maintenance costs - let alone contributing to an improvement of the network. In rural Pakistan, many households lack access to potable water.

Furthermore, the quality of drinking water is a major issue. Only 1% of wastewater in the country is treated before disposal and is a major environmental concern and in the Punjab. Many cities--- including Multan, Bahawalpur, Sheikhupura, Lahore, Kasur and Gujranwala--- have been found to have high arsenic content.

Taking into account the expected growth in Pakistan's population, it is clear that reaching the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of halving the number of people without access to reliable water and sanitation by 2015 is going to require a new approach.

This session will look at how to secure safe drinking water and sanitation to the poor - in both rural and urban areas. Particular attention will also be given to the role of women in water supply, in general, and the Punjab Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project, in particular. This project has seen the creation of community-based organizations among women to help design and implement simple, low cost water supply, sanitation and drainage systems to 335 rural villages. Other areas to be addressed include:

• What financial incentives can be used to optimize water use, such as metering, tariff reforms, and cost recovery
• The importance of sustainable cost recovery programs
• The question of governance
• And the argument that small projects are often most effective. This will include a look at Karachi, where local NGOs and communities have been able to develop an alternative sewage disposal plan for the city that uses existing systems and designs and uses local resources, thereby also significantly reducing the project costs.

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The linkage between large-scale infrastructure projects and water has become one of the most polarizing issues in the developing world over the last 20 years. From dams in Pakistan to India's recent commission to look into interlinking India's major rivers - if pursued, the largest man-made water network in the world - a clear line has been drawn between opponents and supporters.

And, sometimes, large scale water infrastructure projects have affected relations between countries, as is currently the case with the Baglihar Dam in India where the World Bank has been asked to step in to broker a resolution - the first time that either side has seen the need to go to a third party to mediate the terms of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty.

For the supporters, it is only large-scale projects that can improve irrigation, provide electricity and ward off droughts and flooding. For opponents, such projects are the height of engineering folly with huge environmental consequences, deteriorating relationships with neighbors and, all too often, the compulsory resettlement of people. In the case of the Tarbela dam, the first dam to be built on the River Indus, 80,000 people required resettlement. For the Mangla Dam, another 20,000 families were resettled. Furthermore, opponents claim that such dams result in an increase in the water table affecting agricultural land and increasing salinity.

This session will look at some of the complex issues surrounding large-scale infrastructure projects in Pakistan, in particular dams. Attention will also be given to The World Commission on Dams Report, launched in November 2000 and whether it has heralded a new framework for development.