Islamabad: The Minister for Water Resources Syed Javed Ali Shah has said that Pakistan can only store 10% of water flowing in the country through rivers because of insufficient reservoirs, according to a news report. Shah said this during a meeting of the National Assembly on 21st May 2018.
He also added that the domestic water storage capacity is at its lowest, at about 0.018 MAF (million acre feet) against last year’s 0.506 MAF. In the last 5 years, the capacity stood at 1.421 MAF, as compared to 0.58 MAF in the last 10 years. Minister Shah has highlighted various reasons for low water storage capacity, including, inaction to build new reservoirs, reduction in storage capacity of existing ones, rapidity of climate change and increase in population.
While talking about government’s plans for increasing water capacity, Shah added that 26 new projects are proposed to be established, out of which 2 will be completed by this year, 13 by next year, and 6 more by the end of 2020.
