ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam on Thursday said wrong policies of successive governments caused environmental degradation, groundwater in particular.

`Recharge Pakistan` is one of the five components of the present government`s vision of Clean and Green Pakistan to address recharging the aquifers, he said, chairing a meeting on `Recharge Pakistan` and groundwater depletion in the Ministry of Climate Change.

Pakistan Council for Research and Water Recharge (PCRWR) presented its findings during the meeting.`With the help of partners, floodwater and rainwater will be used to recharge underground aquifers,` said the adviser.

Representatives from PCRWR told the meeting that they had established their offices all across the country with seven regional and 18 sub-regional setups.

They were conducting their work keeping in mind Pakistan Water Vision 2025, Sustainable Development Goals, National Water Policy 2018 and National Water Research Agenda 2016-2025.

The adviser was told that Pakistan`s freshwater was fast depleting because of unregulated pumping.

More than 93 per cent of pumpedwater was being used for agricultural purposes while 90pc of the drinking water and almost all the industrial water were being extracte d f rom ground sources.

Pakistan`s 40pc of cultivable land is arid while government`s policies towards arid agriculture have worsened the situation.

The PCRWR was told to come up with solutions, especially to water management, rainwater harvesting and improving water quality.

The meeting learnt that PCRWR had developed freshwater maps for the country at the depth of 1-50 metres and 51-100 metres. Its representatives also said they were using NASA`s technology called GRACE for this purpose.

The technology made real time monitoring of the underground freshwater aquifers possible. The meeting was also informed about water recharge technology and freshwater skimming technology for water pumping.

Heavy pumping of water in Indian Punjab and pollutants in Indian controlled rivers also came under discussion.

The adviser said the government was already working with China under CPEC for groundwater recharge and a working group was already in place. He said World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was also facilitating the government of Pakistan in a similar project.