Speakers gathered at Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum auditorium under the auspices of Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar to track down the path and means to address the water crisis in the country while involving the energetic youth segment of society on 16th October, 2018.
Brigadier (retd.) Muhammad Aslam, Chairman GDAWP said he was very happy that someone has raised water issue. He stressed on the issue of water scarcity and encouraged the youth to promote the cause of building dams in the country. Furthermore, he discussed the climate change and how it is affecting the quality and quantity of water.
Dr. Shahla Nazneen faculty member from Environmental Sciences’ and organizer of the event talked about laws and policies of water in Pakistan. She said major portion of Pakistan drinkable water is at risk and only 1 % of urban waste is treated in Pakistan, while the rest is dumped into surface waters. She enlightened the participants with national drinking water policy and its implications.
Raza Ali Khan from PYPW, appreciated the provincial policy that it has added the youth role of water conservation being the premier policy in the country after Brazilian policy to do so. He presented the seven biggest dream killers for youth which included fear of failure, fear of success, lack of work ethic, excuses, toxic influences, lack of discipline and unwillingness to learn.
Saniya Kiran, a research scholar at the department talked about the thinking patterns of youth on water conservation which she concluded from the recent research, she has conducted on the topic. She talked about water quality changes over time and the activities in which water is wasted; the most. She also enumerated a number of water borne diseases to the participants.
Haris Khan, a youth minister for environment youth assembly talked about the hurdles in the way of youth to practice their efforts to conserve water. “We should be very concerned about drinking water conservation as only 1 % is drinking water”. He talked about the duties of youth towards the environment. He added we should replace the “I” approach with the “WE” approach.
Dr. Asif Khan, a faculty member at the environmental sciences department announced that a new society with the name “Environment Society” within the university campus is going to engage the students at university level and will address the issues of water scarcity. He added that conservation of water is only possible through the coordination and collaboration.
A research scholar, Farhat Ali talked about the implementation of environmental laws at national level. He said from 2005 -2010 disaster risk was the main issue but presently water conservation is the most important issue in the country and need to be addressed from all concerned quarters. Chairman, Department of Environmental Sciences, Prof. Dr. Hizbullah Khan at the end of the seminar appreciated all the speakers and the organizers for arranging a seminar on the most important issue of water scarcity and conservation.
