Water Resources Management, Water Supply & Sanitation Economics

Unlike most of the developing countries, Pakistan consumes up to 98% of its fresh water resources for agriculture, however in future, the non-agricultural water requirements will increase its share depending mainly upon the population, leaving less water for agriculture. Presently, the water use efficiencies in irrigated agricultural areas are among the lowest in the world, which creates a lot of potential for water savings provided the utilization of available resources is made with wise management. The basis for such management is the proper estimation of the future availabilities from different resources and their requirements by different competitors. In this study, such estimations are made using the Policy Dialogue Model (PODIUM). This paper presents the food and water requirements situation in Pakistan under four different scenarios. Low agricultural yields, high population growth rate, and low water use efficiencies, stress the adoption of effective resource management strategies that could address these constraints.

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Added by View user profileShehzad Ahmed on January 5, 2005