Chairman IRSA Rao Irshad Ali Khan on Tuesday stressed upon the need to set up water reservoirs by claiming that delay in construction of Kala Bagh Dam was causing an annual impact of five billion dollars loss to the national economy.

Chairman IRSA Rao Irshad Ali Khan on Tuesday stressed upon the need to set up water reservoirs by claiming that delay in construction of Kala Bagh Dam was causing an annual impact of five billion dollars loss to the national economy. He was addressing a seminar on water held in connection with World Water Day at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad. The session was chaired by UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan. He said that River Indus flowed over 90 million acres feet of water annually but had storage capacity of only 6.4 MAF while the 22 MAF flows in river Jhelum with its storage of 7.4 MAF. He said one million acre feet water generates economic benefits of Rs 60 billion and Pakistan was wasting about $18 billion annually for the past 40 years by not utilising over 30 MAF which are dumped back to the sea due to the lack of water reservoirs. He said that 2 million acre was becoming a victim of sea water erosion. He was of the view that the kalabagh dam is costing $10 billion and its cost of the construction will be met in two years if we considers its impact on electricity and irrigation. He said that Kalabagh Dam will generate 1200 billion units a year that will reduce Rs 144 trillion cost on high price electricity from IPPs. He said that it was matter of concern that we are draining out groundwater with the heavy quantity and not recharging, resulting in deteriorating the water quality and lowering down the water level. He showed his concern that 87 percent of water was not fit for dinking in the country. Dean Faculty of Agricultural Engineering Prof Dr Allah Buksh said that the World Bank and Asian Development Bank have categorized Pakistan as a water-stressed country. He said we were dragging groundwater at a large pace, resulting in lower down water level. He said that there is no mechanism to recharge the groundwater in the country. Mr. Joseph Slack, a progressive farmer at Canada, said that waste water is being treated in Canada, the same, he stressed to be treated in Pakistan also to avoid dirty water irrigation. Director WMRC, Hamad Hussain Shah said that UNO declared the World Water Day of 2016 with a theme water and jobs. He said 1.5 billion people employed in water related jobs. He said 2/3 of the sewerage water is coming from urban areas without treatment that needs to be disposed of by installing water treatment plants at every industrial unit.