National Water Conservation Strategy for Pakistan (2023-2027).

This Strategy of the Ministry for Water Resources seeks to provide guidance for water conservation in demands for water from various sectors including but not limited to; drinking water and sanitation, agriculture, irrigation, manufacturing and industry, environment and ecosystems, and hydropower. It is addressed to federal and provincial government institutions, international development agencies, research institutes, academia, private sector, and civil society organizations. The Strategy takes into account challenges faced by agriculture, domestic and industrial sectors and suggests some necessary conservation measures to create a balance between demand and supply. Overall objective of the Strategy is to ensure conservation of water, minimizing wastage and securing its equitable distribution both across and within provinces. More articulated, these translate in a. Ensuring conservation of water, minimizing wastage and securing equitable distribution both across and within provinces. b. Supporting service providers to develop best management practices for water conservation in agriculture, domestic and industrial sectors minimizing financial dependence on federal and provincial governments. c. Providing actionable information around water conservation in all the three sectors ensuring water security under changing climate. The Strategy has four main dimensions focusing on three major sectors (Agriculture, Domestic and Industrial). the fourth is the dimension of related key factors for water conservation, which include: low population growth; improve water productivity and efficiency; effective public-private partnership and enhance public awareness.
For each of the sectors (Agriculture, Domestic and Industrial) strategic objectives for water conservation are developed. For agriculture these include, among other things, introducing of pricing policy (also for the other sectors), development of non-conventional water sources for agriculture (secondary treated sewage water, drainage effluent, rainwater, saline effluent, seawater) and undertaking watershed management. For the domestic sector, measures include, among other things, formulating and enforce Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) Policy (also for industrial use), development of water metering systems and conducting of water audits. The implementation framework for this strategy will require public and private partnerships with lead and supportive roles assigned to different agencies/institutions to ensure a coordinated implementation of the strategy with all the relevant departments/agencies and other relevant actors.