by Misbah Saba Malik
ISLAMABAD, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Noor Ahmad Leghari, a farmer in Nawab Shah district of Pakistan's south Sindh province, is worried about the future of his cotton crop as he couldn't get much irrigation water this year owing to the ongoing water crisis in the country.
He said that until last year he got irrigation water seven days a week, but now he only gets it fortnightly and his crop remains "thirsty of water" in the remaining days.
"In some areas of Badin, Sanghar and Mirpur districts, farmers won't be able to harvest even a single plant of cotton as they couldn't get water a single day after planting the crop," the farmer told Xinhua.
Leghari said that he and his family are dependent on the money earned from the fields, adding that he is afraid that he won't be able to get enough money upon harvest and he and family will have to face a serious financial crisis.
Besides Leghari, thousands of farmers in the country are feared to meet the same fate due to water scarcity in Pakistan.
According to the latest statistics released by the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) of Pakistan last month, the country's south Sindh and east Punjab provinces will face 51 percent of water shortage in the coming days as there is only 220,000 cusec acres of water available in reserves, far less than the demand of water in the country.
It was noticed that in June last year, water inflows were 375,100 cusecs while this year it dropped to 112,900 cusecs. In addition, the storage last year was 3.6 million acre feet and this year it was only 0.22 million acre feet, revealing a big gap in storage capacity and inflows.
Uzair Qamar, professor of water resource management and engineering in University of Arid Agriculture Faisalabad, told Xinhua that this year snow melting process was slower than previous years in the country's northern mountainous regions owing to low temperatures.
He added that the cropping area irrigated by canal water in the country's Punjab and Sindh province has increased over the years, but new dams were not constructed, resulting in the widening gap of supply and demand of irrigation water.
Pakistan's top water reservoirs Tarbela Dam and Mangla Dam are already facing erosion and their water storage capacity is likely to reduce by 33 percent by 2020. Experts believe that in the absence of new dams, the irrigation system of the country will be badly affected.
The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources said that the country touched the water stress line in 1990 and crossed the water scarcity line in 2005, and if immediate actions are not taken to preserve water, the country may run dry by 2025.
Qamar said that the issue is more serious than lack of water for irrigation. "It is just a small aspect of the greater problem, which the country is facing or may face even more," if new dams are not being built in time.
The country's apex court has recently passed orders to immediately build two new dams in the country. The court also asked the public to donate money for the cause.
Pakistan is an agriculture economy and about 70 percent of its population is directly or indirectly associated with this sector. According to economic survey of Pakistan, this sector contributes 19 percent to the GDP of the country and about 43 percent of the country's labor force is partially or fully associated with it.
Muhammad Furqan, a landowner in Sindh, told Xinhua that if the problem of less supply of water for irrigation persists in the province, people associated with agriculture sector will have to look for alternative options to seek their livelihood.
"If that happens, the country's already dangling economy will face a major blow."
