GIVEN the impending water scarcity that Pakistan faces, it makes no sense to construct more canals and fill them by diverting water from currently fertile areas to the unfertile Cholistan.

The Sindh government should have invested in building water storage dams along the path of the Indus River, allowing only minimal water to flow into the sea.

The current water flow into the sea can atbest decelerate soft soilsea erosion, but it is not a viable solution.

Natural forms of preventing erosion include planting or maintaining native vegetation, such as mangrove forests and coral reefs, or building dykes, seawalls and groynesin ordertoforestallthe erosion process.

A groyne is a rigid hydraulic structure along the shore that interrupts water flow, and limits the movement of sediment.

Seawalls have a total life span of 50 to 100years, while groynes last 30 to 40 years.

Unfortunately, the coastal areas in Sindh are being cleared oftheirnatural habitat, and this process is facilitated by some elements within the Sindh government in cahoots with real estate tycoons and developers. Hundreds of thousands of acres have been lost this way.

Water scarcity is an existential threat thatneeds tobe tackled by allthe federating units. The Sindh government should initiate aggressive measures to ensure water conservation and fair distribution of its water share.

Also, there should be a freeze on the development of private and governmentsponsored housing societies and luxury projects, like golf courses, including the so-called `welfare` projects meant for the paying elite and political cronies.

Malik Tariq Ali Lahore