KARACHI: Speakers on Monday warned that the country’s largest city - Karachi is struggling with an escalating water problem, holding inadequate preventive policies and poor resource management for the imminent crisis.
The speakers told a workshop titled “Strengthening City-Wide Partnership to Promote Collective Action for Water Stewardship” at a local hotel, that the city’s primary water sources are surface and groundwater, which they warned, are failing to meet the growing demand.
The session with experts identifying and deliberating on the local water-related challenges, also showed concerns over the quality of the available supply as “alarmingly” below acceptable standards.
The event brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives from various government departments such as the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC).
It also included religious scholars from different sects, such as Jamia Darul Uloom, representatives from civil society, academia and researchers from NED University, and representatives from private sector businesses. The session aimed to establish a workable Collective Action Platform for addressing water related issues.
Dr Conor Linstead, Freshwater Specialist at WWF-UK, emphasized the significant potential benefits of establishing a platform to foster collaboration among diverse stakeholders.
He highlighted that such a platform could serve as a cornerstone for promoting effective water stewardship while addressing localized water challenges through a collective action approach.
According to Dr Linstead, bringing together various stakeholders ranging from policymakers, industries, and local communities to environmental experts could create an avenue for sharing knowledge, resources, and strategies aimed at sustainable water management.
By uniting efforts under a common framework, this initiative could drive innovative solutions, enhance resilience to water-related issues, and contribute to the equitable and efficient use of water resources, ultimately supporting both environmental conservation and socio-economic development.
Aftab Chandio, Chief Engineer Sewerage, Karachi at KWSC elaborated on the corporation’s strategic initiatives aimed at transforming Karachi’s water infrastructure. Among the highlighted projects were the rehabilitation of the Hub Canal and the much-anticipated K-IV project, both of which are pivotal to addressing the city’s growing water needs.
Chandio underscored the importance of these endeavours in enhancing KW&SC capacity to supply water to its residents of Karachi, with the potential to significantly increase the city’s current surface water availability, possibly doubling the existing supply.
In order to successfully establish a collective action platform for water stewardship, WWF-Pakistan aims to develop a Multi Stakeholder Platform (MSP) where all the relevant stakeholders will be engaged in a timely and effective manner.
The first step for the formation of an MSP is to develop a Stakeholder Engagement Strategy (SES) that will help in recognizing the need for collective action platform in Karachi. As an outcome of the session, four major working groups were identified including government, academia, civil society organizations and the private sector.
The roles and responsibilities of the working groups were identified and initiatives including identifying and replicating Nature Based Solutions (NBS), scaling up water conservation, policy reforms etc were discussed.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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