LAHORE: Around 95pc of the water in Pakistan is being used for irrigation purposes and a lot of it is being wasted.

`Pakistan was a water abundant country at one time but today even 150 feet underground water is not fit for consumption,` said Minister for Irrigation Mohsin Leghari.

He was speaking at a seminar organised by the Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) in collaboration with the FinancingSustainable Development (FSD) component of the Support to Local Governance (LoGo) -a project of GIZ. `We are wasting water at every level, and yet we do not even stop to think about it,` he said.

`Till we set its price properly, water will never be valued.

Leghari clarified that it was not water which should be priced according to the system but the maintenance of the water system infrastructure that must be paid for. He said that according to estimates, around 20 to 25 billion USD were needed in one year for this maintenance.

`We have made many wrong decisions over the years and this is the reason why there is so much shortage of water because of mismanagement.

He assured that he would take up this issue in the next assemblymeeting and discuss groundwater regulation, extraction and disposal. He said once there had been a great culture of rest houses along the rivers but today these are in bad shape. Once fixed and maintained, he said, these could be a good source of revenue for the government.

He said his department was working day in and day out to improve things and Punjab was the only province to have a law and water policy.

Parliamentary Secretary on Climate Change Rukhsana Naveed who was the chief guest, said climate change was a reality and especially after the Paris and Geneva Agreement, the world had realised it as one of the greatest threats. Unfortunately, she said, Pakistan was ranked at the bottom where tackling thisthreat was concerned, and was among the 10 most vulnerable countries.

She said the PC-1 for the climate change initiative was complete and said five billion trees would be planted in the next five years and then five billion more in the following five years.

In another programme, `Recharge Pakistan`, there would be lakes which would help in managing floodwater and groundwater.

Other participants spolce about the consumption pattern of water in irrigation and ready-made garment sector.

There was a consensus that responsible consumption on the part of all the consumer categories could improve the supply gap and save the precious natural resource which is depleting at a very fast pace.