UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad addresses Intl Seminar on water at Old Senate Hall, UAF

Speakers at an international seminar on Saturday called for adopting modern water conservation methods and agricultural practices to cope with water scarcity as Pakistan is placed in red zone in per capita water availability having 1,000 cubic metre. The one-day seminar titled “Remote Sensing and Hydrological Modeling for irrigation Water Management” was arranged by Department of Irrigation and Drainage and Water Management Research Centre, University of Agriculture Faisalabad at Old Senate Hall. The Inaugural session of the seminar was chaired by UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan while Dr Bernhard Tischbeins from University of Bonn, Germany was guest of honour on the occasion. Faculty of Agricultural Engineering Dean Prof Dr Rai Niaz and Department Chairman Prof Dr Allah Buksh also spoke on the occasion. The vice chancellor said that Pakistan was on the verge of water scarcity and we have to take extra measures to fight the challenges by giving awareness to the masses about the issue. He said that in 2050 the situation of water would become alarming with 550 cubic metre water availability per capita. He said India was having the resources of water 1600 per person per year. Major European countries have up to twice as much renewable water resources per capita, ranging from 2300 (Germany) to 3000 (France) cubic meters per person per year. He said that remote sensing can help get an important data to predict crop productivity and analyze irrigation promotion. He also stressed the need to promote demand based system for the water management with no wastage of water in the country. Electronic and digital application is the need of the hour to bring a paradigm shift in term of data, modeling of cropping, he added. Dr Bernhard said that we can overcome the issues by education the people about the method of saving water and alleviating the water wastage in the country. He said that it is the need of the hour to grow more crops per water drop in a bid to address the issues. He said that people should be aware about the modern practices and water management so that a tangible reduction in the water wastage could be witnessed. He said that optimization application was must to deal with the issue. He also threw light on the latest practices of water and management. Prof Dr Rai Niaz Ahmad also showed his concern about the water situation in the future that would face the country. He said that we had pumped out the water in large and now the level of underground water was decreasing. He said the climate changes had started playing havoc with the lives of people and reduction in the reservoirs of frozen water was a serious concern. Prof Dr Allah Bukkh said that it was must to hold such seminars and conference and kick off awareness campaign regarding water so that people can be sensitized about the issue.