Extent of water crisis

LAHORE: The cost of Diamer-Bhasha Dam is Rs1.45 trillion which roughly equates to around $12 billion. While this seems like a small amount for an economy of more than $330 billion dollars, this will not help our plummeting foreign exchange reserves, neither will it help pay off our foreign debt.

In an agriculture-based economy like that of Pakistan’s, water plays a pivotal role in development of the economy. A major chunk of our GDP comes directly from agriculture and the industries focused on it, whereas nearly 60% of our labour force is involved in this sector. And what does agriculture directly depend on? Water. Areas that are dependent on water from natural sources only cover the Northern Areas till the Potohar Plateau. Whereas downward towards the south depend on artificial sources of water. Moreover, the Himalayan Glaciers, our main source of water in the Northern Areas, are set to reduce the water they feed into the Indus by 8% by 2030 and this will lower our crop production to 75% of what it is now by 2050. Moreover, as India controls the outflow of water, political tensions can make us suffer like it always has in the past. And with no backup, in the end it will be our economy that will bear the brunt of it. Furthermore, Pakistan is predicted to run dry by 2025, and it will not help that we do not have the money to build a new dam, especially when Mangla and Tarbela Dams have lost 40% of their capacity through problems such as silting. The desert strip which runs from southern Punjab to the middle of Sindh will totally be destroyed. Even the north won’t be immune from this.

Hence, it should be the new government’s utmost priority that water conservation techniques are implemented to save us from the impending doom that is upon us.

Shehryar Hamesh Khan

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2018.

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