Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said Pakistan was wasting its 40 million acre feet (MAF) of water reaching its reserviour to Tarbela in 100 days due to no storage capacity.
He was addressing the Climate Change Adaptation Conference organized by Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF) here.
The adviser said Pakistan was signatory to Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and according to it, Pakistan had 15 potential sites at the eastern and western banks of Indus River. These sites could be used as a storage capacity to recharge underground water as a wetlands and sources for ecological conservation.
“We have the only source to store this plenty of water dumped into the oceans is aquifer (underground water),” he added.
He informed the conference that the project Recharge Pakistan had been shaped in this regard to conserve the 40MAF wasted water which was sent to the Global Climate Fund (GCF) for its approval to get grant for implementation.
It was likely to get approved by the next year, he said adding we were not managing our water resources and it was leading to water crisis in the country.
He said despite rapidly melting glaciers of Himalaya and Hindu Kush that were shared by India, Pakistan and China whereas Karakoram glaciers were not melting which was a positive sign.
The reason for no melting in Karakoram mountain range was its high altitude position at 7,000m and black layer of debris that prevented direct impact of sunlight and rising temperature effects, he added.
