Freshwater is the single most precious element for life on earth. It is essential for satisfying basic human needs, health, food production, energy and maintenance of regional and global ecosystems.
Although 70% of the Earth, ‘THE BLUE PLANET’ is covered by water, only a fraction of that — 2.5 per cent — is freshwater, of which 30% is the groundwater, while the rest is stored in distant glaciers, ice sheets, and mountainous areas – all places that we can hardly access. This leaves less than one per cent of the world’s freshwater resources accessible for human use.
As well as being one of the planet's most valuable natural resources, freshwater is also the most vulnerable. The International Year of Freshwater 2003 brought to the world’s notice that freshwater scarcity was a global phenomenon – and that the world was facing a water crisis.
Biodiversity Action Plan (2000) and implementing several major conservation initiatives such as the Protected Areas Management Project (GEF/World Bank) and the Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (GEF/UNDP).more
WWF - Pakistan (WWF - P) has, therefore, initiated the Project “Better Management Practices (BMPs) for Water Thirsty Crops”to ensure sustainable sources of freshwater to support the livelihoods of poor communities in Pakistan.This Project will create a mechanism for increasing water availability and reducing pollution by decreasing the amount of water and pesticides used in sugarcane and cotton production.more
Pakistan Sustainable Cotton Initiative (PSCI) (2005-07) aims to reduce the environmental impact of cotton production resulting in improved livelihood of small cotton growers by promoting environment friendly Better Management Practices (BMPs).more
WWF - P developed this project to conserve the viable population of Indus River Dolphin by protecting the innate biodiversity of the lower Indus river basin Eco-system, and reducing the losses of Indus river dolphins by canal stranding through rescue operations.more
WWF - P had assessed the environmental health of this drain through Water Quality Monitoring and found it to be highly unsatisfactory for irrigation as well as domestic purposes. Therefore WWF – P is now working on identifying treatment options to reduce the pollution load of the drain.more
River Ravi plays a vital role in the Punjab’s irrigation network and is a major tributary of River Indus. The water quality of River Ravi is being monitored each month, in terms of total pollution load and heavy metals contamination in the river water, under the South-Asia Water Analyses Network (SAWAN) Project. more
Taunsa Barrage facilitates the flow of irrigation water from the Indus River in three major canals, Muzaffar Ghar Canal (8,300 cusecs), Dera Ghazi khan Canal (89,000 cusecs) and Taunsa Panjnad (T-P) Link Canal (12,000 cusecs) supplying some six million acre feet of irrigation water to cultivated lands in districts of Muzaffar Ghar ,Dera Ghazi khan ,Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur during Rabi and Kharif seasons.more
Pakistan is no stranger to this alarming water crisis. The issues of water supply and quality, the conservation, protection of freshwater habitats are as urgent here as anywhere in the world. Pakistan, once a water-surplus country, is now a water deficit one… The situation in Pakistan indicates that the country is approaching conditions of chronic water-stress. The key issues related to this situation have been listed below
• the variability in rainfall levels and drought has devastating effects on agriculture, rangelands, wetlands and the concurrent human toll
• sea-water intrusion due to low flows below Kotri has resulted in ecosystem degradation in the Indus Delta
• reduction in reservoir capacity due to sedimentation – Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma are expected to lose 25% of their storage capacity by 2010
• increased domestic and industrial demands for water has put pressure on irrigation requirements that results in poor delivery efficiencies in the irrigation sector
• deterioration of water quality due to disposal of untreated urban sewage, individual effluent and agricultural drainage run off
• the population of the species, dependent on freshwater ecosystems, is threatened due to shrinking rivers and poor water quality
• depletion of groundwater due to overexploitation, and the resultant water logging and salinity
• Intrusion of salt water due to seepage from underlying salt aquifer
