Alternative for dams and Water Supply Expansion.

Byline: Nusrat Bibi

Sound water resource management needs strategic planning include overlay environmental laws, environmental impact assessments, enforcement and dozen other supportive and inter connected Regulations, Acts and Policies are certainly needed; without which it will never be affective. Some of these are as following:

Land use regulations, zoning laws, watershed management law, safe drinking water ct, water resources management Act, water conservation ordinance, water bodies regulation and related laws, water pollution and regulation, rain water harvesting, storm water management and water recycling laws and policies, water resources commission Act, flood control Act, environmental regulations, public health regulation and regulation of fisheries, navigation control Act, irrigation policy, environmental management Act, water rights, clean water Act, wet land protection law, agricultural law, land management and development law, climate change and drought management policy and law and forest and natural resource preservation and management Act etc. Some are urgently needed as:

In Pakistan the land use regulations need urgent attention of the law and policy making institutes. Currently we have no zoning laws and our precious agricultural land, watershed areas and water quality is compromised due to ever increasing development pressure in those areas. Also our development is mainly disorganized and no guidance and education is available to the developers that which place is for building and how to develop or build a land? In order to protect the water shed and agricultural land from development and to mange flood (our development is in water channels or near the water channels) and to sustain the nation's water, it is highly recommended that the government should regulate the land use planning and supportive laws.

Water resource management on municipality level demands proper code, design and materials standard to build environmentally friendly and sustainable buildings to assure water and energy sustainability and stable water recharge. It is possible only if we regulate our buildings development and acquire modern technology to harvest our rain water, manage storm water and recycle grey water on each facility level and its usage for non potable use and also to increase green surfaces in buildings to continuously renew and recharge our ground water. Though our existing buildings are the biggest consumers of water and energy and...