Experts have called for judicious use of water in these trying times and educating the public about “Water Stewardship.” The initiative is about collectively fair, environmentally sustainable and economically beneficial water usage, which is being achieved through a stakeholder inclusive process that involves site and catchment based actions. The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) organized a media briefing on “Water Stewardship – Media’s Role in Raising Awareness” where experts stressed the need for the proactive role of media in raising awareness among the masses amid water crisis and natural calamities.

Nestle Pakistan’s Senior Manager of Public Affairs Zeeshan Suhail elaborated the concept of water stewardship adopted by the multinational firm and shed light on its initiatives focusing on water conservation and betterment of natural ecosystems. “Nestle is leading its climate action and nature conservation vision through the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) at its factory. The AWS certified four factories of Nestle Pakistan and we are the first Nestle market in the world to have eco-friendly infrastructure,” he said.He added that Nestle Pakistan developed model sites in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) to implement four techniques of drip irrigation system for water efficient agriculture. “Drip irrigation infrastructure has been raised at 198 acre and helped maintain quality and quantity of agricultural produce with less water.” He said Nestle and NARC developed a high-efficiency irrigation system demonstration site for water efficient agriculture as a model for farmers to switch to modern and eco-friendly methods.

Dr Imran Khalid, Director of Governance at Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF-Pakistan), said amidst ongoing flood situation in Pakistan and disease outbreak fears, availability of clean water and drainage of filthy water is much needed. He stressed that the sanitation infrastructure during the floods was not proper and adequate to cope with the disaster. He said the idea of water stewardship emerged to be a pertinent concept in the prevailing situation as there’s no human survival without water. He said watershed management approach was needed, adding that Margalla Hills was watershed area as it received water during rainfalls from these hills. “The origin and endpoint of every single drop of water falling in that needs to be studied to chalk out framework for efficient water management,” he said.

Recalling sector E-11 floods, he said they were mainly due to inundation and urban flooding caused by encroachments on water drains. “Water is important for health but it becomes a threat when our development is not sustainable. According to World Bank study, every third child in Pakistan is stunted due to unhygienic water consumption,” he added.Seven percent of waste water is treated but those water treatment plants are not functional completely and the wastewater is completely dumped into drains without treatment, he said.

SDPI Associate Research Fellow Majeed Salik in his opening remarks said the purpose of the seminar was to discuss current water stewardship initiatives, water scarcity issues and remedy to water woes of the country along with an objective to build a media campaign for mass public awareness. He said more than 240 million people around the world face water scarcity and over one billion would face sanitation issues by 2040. “The population growth, growing need of water for agriculture production, fast sprawling urbanisation and environmental pollution in Pakistan will aggravate further if business as usual continues,” he warned. Dr Salik said Pakistan was facing water inundation and 93pcof its freshwater was being spent in agriculture sector. He said there was need to understand water utilisation patterns and highlighted measures for its improvement.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk