Nazar Hussain Malik, a professor at King Saud University and Saudi Aramco chair in electrical power, said that the poor water management including excessive pumping is depleting the water table in Pakistan, a country that is already energy-starved.

Malik was delivering his keynote speech at a symposium organized by the Institution of Engineers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabian Chapter (IEP-SAC), at Al-Mutlaq Hotel in Riyadh. He also spoke about Pakistan’s worsening energy crisis with special references to the situations in other countries including Saudi Arabia. He, however, lauded the efforts of the Kingdom, which is now diversifying its energy-mix to cut its dependence on oil and to ensure that some oil reserves remain intact for future generations.

Chief guest of the seminar was Khayyam Akbar, deputy head of the mission at the Pakistan embassy. Besides 150 engineers and managers, the event was hosted by the Institution of Engineers’ President Jaleel Hasan, General Secretary Mubasshir Kirmani and S. Saleem.

In his speech, Malik pointed out that the global population is increasing at an accelerated rate. “This dramatic growth of the world population coupled with other factors is causing serious challenges to meet the demand for water and power,” he warned. “At present the total freshwater available to mankind is only 0.008 percent of the total water on earth,” said Malik, adding that many countries are facing water scarcity or water stress. Saudi Arabia, he said, has water scarcity and Pakistan is going in that direction, as are many other countries. He pointed out that the water availability is the Kingdom was 156 cubic meters per capita in 1999, which is expected to decline to one third by 2020.

Over the same period, the water availability in Pakistan declined from 1,353 to 225 cubic meters per capita, he added. The estimates show that by 2020, both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will have considerable water stress, he said.  It is quite possible that a third world war would be fought over the control and access to water resources, said President Hasan, while referring to the 50 verses of Qur’an in which “water” has been mentioned.

“Those who waste water are not liked by Allah,” he said. Hasan said that one important factor, which is contributing to this water stress or scarcity, is the increased use of irrigation for farming to feed the world population. Total surface land that is being cultivated is increasing and so is the amount of water used, he said, while referring to global warming and climate change. He voiced concerns that large water bodies are disappearing at a faster pace from the face of the earth.

Another major challenge facing mankind is the availability of energy, Hasan said. To this end, Malik said that mankind had doubled energy usage in just 35 years. He said that oil production had reached peak and had started to decline in many countries. But, it is anticipated that from 2010 to 2050 the demand for energy will approximately double, said the KSU professor, while referring to the need to attempt sustainable development process in Pakistan.