Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) celebrated World Water Day 2014 on Friday to raise awareness of water, its uses & importance and the present situation in the country.

On the occasion, speakers stressed on the need for addressing the issue of water resource and action plans to promote water cooperation for sustainable water management in Pakistan. They were of the view that “It is the need of the hour to augment new water sources to overcome the upcoming shortage of water in Pakistan, especially in the Potohar region”.

On the occasion, Prof. Dr., Abbas Choudhry, Vice Chancellor, University of Engineering Taxila was the chief guest. In his address, he said that due to global warming and climatic changes, the sea levels are rising day by day and the population is in real danger. Under these conditions the availability of fresh water is limited day by day. Only 1% of world’s total water is comprised of fresh water, he added.  He further stated that the big dilemma of our environment is that we ourselves are polluting this limited resource which is matter of life and death for all of us. He was of the view that if precautionary measures are not taken immediately, our survival will be a big question mark.

Sardar Muhammad Tariq, CEO, Pakistan Water Partnership (PWP), In his address said that “We need to address water scarcity and management issues in line with the future requirements of climate change in a most decentralized manner through promotion of “Rain Water Harvesting and Ground Water Recharging”. We need to protect each drop of water from being misused and to safeguard all water sources, he added. He was the view that World Water Day holds high significance but it is a pity that it does not get the importance it deserves. He further stated that it is often said that if ever another World War is fought, it will primarily be based on water crisis. This in itself is a testament to the high importance attached with the water issue world-wide, he said.

Prof. Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, PMAS-AAUR, said water is an essential element for agriculture which had a great potential to boost country’s economic growth and productivity.  He further said that due to increasing population, land use is increasing and water resources are decreasing. There is dire need for future planning to provide alternate solution for water scare areas and to aware the people about the importance of each and every drop of water and store these precious pearls of nature. He told  the audiences about the different practices around the world to save and store water according to different climatic conditions. Dr. Niaz Ahmad emphasized that for a region where whole population is dependent on rainwater should get benefits from rainwater harvesting and it is also an important technique to save our water resources and it can also help to reduce floods.” The situation of water scarcity in Pakistan demands us to perform our responsibilities at both, individual and national level for the conservation of water, he added.

In his detailed presentation Dr. Hassan Abass of COMSATS gave a detailed perspective on Climate Change and Water Scarcity with special focus on Pakistan. He with an emphasis on water cooperation, highlighted the vitality of water in our everyday life, how we misuse this valuable resource and the strongly stressed on the remedy in the shape of policy change on a macro level and changes in our lifestyles on a micro level.

After the seminar, the students of Faculty of Agriculture Engineering along with the participants of the seminar conducted a “Walk” to highlight the importance of water resources.