Water Member of Wapda Engineer Muhammad Mushtaq Chaudhry has said that Pakistan is emerging like many countries as one of the water scarce country - as a World Bank Report says - because of high population pressure and urbanisation and industrialisation.
He told a seminar on sanitation on the World Water Day on Thursday that the country needed hydropower projects to solve its energy crisis. He also said that Pakistan needed big dams to overcome its water crisis. About the Mangla uprising project, he said it would be completed in September 2008.
He said Wapda was ready to start the work on Kala Bagh Dam after the orders of the government and that there was no delay from Wapda on this project and the feasibility report of Banji Hydro power project will be completed in 2010.
In Pakistan as a whole 30 percent households do not have any toilet facility. In Lahore only three out of 100 industries which use hazardous chemicals treat their wastewater. This varies largely between urban and rural areas. To improve the sanitation we should create awareness about hygiene education and also construct open drains with street pavements. The country will face serious shortage of drinking water in near future.
Pakistan Engineering Congress president Engineer Hussain Ahmed said that one percent of the GDP should be allocated to the sanitation. He also said that the supply of piped water should be given to the villages and towns on priority basis.
All open drains need to be covered. Every hospital should be equipped with incinerator for the proper disposal of hospital waste. Awareness should be created through establishment of model villages with proper sanitation facilities. Environment Ministry Director General Jawad Ali Khan spoke on "access to basic sanitation - a challenge for all".
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