The Senate Standing Committee on Water Resources, led by Senator Shahadat Awan, met today at the Parliament House. The session commenced with opening remarks from the Chairman.
He highlighted that Pakistan ranks as the third largest country in the world for extracting underground water.
He further noted that Pakistan extracts 9 percent of the world’s total groundwater, leading to a recharge rate that is significantly lower than the extraction rate.
Additionally, one-third of Pakistan’s natural water is wasted by flowing into the sea.
The Ministry’s briefing started with a presentation by Dr. Hifza Rasheed, the Director General of PCRWR, on groundwater depletion in Pakistan and initiatives to address this issue.
It was reported that the water table depth varies from 5 to 140 feet in the Province of Punjab.
However, the Ministry of Water Resources Secretary interrupted to dispute these figures, causing Chairman Awan to express his surprise and frustration.
He questioned how the committee could proceed with inaccurate data, especially when the ministry itself acknowledged the discrepancies.
The Chairman of the Committee pointed out that even the data for the capital city was flawed, raising concerns about the accuracy of information for the Punjab and Sindh provinces.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources attributed these inaccuracies to malfunctioning piezometers and misreporting by WASA.
Senator Muhammad Humayun Mohmand inquired about who is responsible for installing and maintaining piezometers. It was clarified that this responsibility lies with the Irrigation Departments of the respective provinces.
The Secretary also mentioned that accurate data could not be provided until a sufficient number of piezometers were installed.
In response, the Chairman of the Committee noted that the briefing had already included data from reliable sources such as the PCRWR, Punjab Irrigation Department, and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The Chairman of the Committee expressed regret over the inaccurate data presented by the Ministry. Consequently, the meeting was adjourned with instructions for the Ministry to conduct an internal review involving all relevant departments responsible for data collection on this critical issue, and to present the revised data at the next Committee meeting.
The meeting was attended by Senator Mohammad Humayun Mohmand, Senator Poonjo Bheel, and other senior officials from the concerned departments.
