PMD sounds alarm about water stress

Islamabad : The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has warned the authorities of water stress in some areas of the country due to scanty rainfall.

Water stress is a situation which happens when the demand for water exceeds its available supply during a certain period of time or when poor quality restricts its use.

According to PMD National Drought Monitoring Centre director Ikramuddin, many districts of Sindh and Balochistan provinces are facing moderate to severe droughts.

Nineteen of them are in Sindh and 11 in Balochistan.

Sindh's districts include Badin, Larkana, Sanghar, Dadu, Mityari, Shaheed Benzairabad, Hyderabad, Mohenjodaro, Tharparkar, Jacobabad, Padidan, Thatta, Jamshoro, Qambar Shadadkot, Umerkot, Karachi, Rohri, Khairpur and Sajwal, while Balochistan's districts are Awaran, Kech, Panjgur, Bolan, Kharan, Quetta, Chagi, Noushki, Washuk, Gawadar and Mastung.

He said currently, Tarbela and Mangla dams was half filled with water, the lowest water availability during the last nine years, while water storage in small dams of Potohar region was satisfactory.

"Keeping in view the climatology, water situation in dams and current seasonal forecast, drought conditions may exacerbate and thus, adversely affecting the agriculture and livestock in these districts," he warned.

The official said the situation could spread to other districts, too.

"Dry conditions will cause water stress in the cultivated lands/areas of the country due to the limited supply of irrigation water for Rabi crops," he warned.

Ikramuddin said below normal rainfall was recorded in most of the southern parts of the country from June to November 2018 as forecast by the PMD.

"Major rainfall deficit was experienced over the provinces of Sindh (-71.9 per cent), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (-46.9 per cent) and Balochistan (-44.2 per cent) during the June-November period," he said.

The official asked all stakeholders to take pre-emptive measures for disaster-prone districts and said farmers and agriculturists should keep themselves updated about water availability by contacting the PMD.