Failing to conserve rainwater

Never mind that Pakistan’s geography bestows upon it an entire ocean’s worth of water supply. Our natural resources are frivolous if we cannot harness them effectively into proper usage. The Rainwater Harvest Programme was introduced for Islamabad a few years ago by the Climate Change Ministry. Since then, it has been quite the phantom legend. Despite the success that rainwater harvesting has had in rehabilitation efforts after the 2005 earthquake, priorities lie elsewhere. These priorities are worrisome as Islamabad’s population is increasing by 5.7 per cent a year and its infrastructure is expected to sustain a population that will be more than twice what it is now by 2050. The programme that was purposed for supplying water to public and private sector buildings is now a mere dream for reasons unbeknownst to us. That dream is washing away, just as the precipitation, of which Islamabad has plenty, in the form of rainwater, fails to be collected for the many uses it could be repurposed for. While extensive construction of buildings, residential areas, roads and sidewalks continues, not to mention a flourishing real estate market that will eventually welcome larger populations, rainwater goes to waste, directly being led into natural streams such as Leh Nullah.

That the sense of exigency in this impending water shortage crisis is absent on the part of the government in the federal capital is perturbing. The Environmental Protection Agency should particularly be a major proponent of utilising rainwater but ostensibly, not much hue and cry was raised over the elimination of the water conservation project from the 2014-2015 fiscal budget. Until the government municipalities and policymakers work to implement policies, the struggle will become greater. The role of government officials is not to merely sit in offices and think tanks to discuss ideas; the way leaders distinguish themselves is by effectuating those ideas to positively impact citizens’ lives.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2016.

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