A welcome development

The ongoing water crisis has featured in these columns several times in recent months and it now appears that the government has decided to take both note and action. The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has announced that there is to be a national water policy to address the serious challenges that Pakistan faces. One prediction is that the crisis will peak in 2025 when water shortages become an existential threat, now less than eight years hence.

The announcement was made at a meeting of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and it came with some chilling statistics. Pakistan is preserving just 10 per cent of its flowing water and the country is at the 15^th place in the catalogue of most water-deprived countries. The water that is wasted by unrestricted flow into the sea is estimated to be worth $14.5 billion in economic terms, and with a population that is going to surpass 300 million by 2050 there is an urgency to this announcement that outweighs most other items on the national agenda. This is an item that has to transcend party politics and provincial rivalries. It affects everybody no matter who they vote for. The commitment to a national water policy has to be endorsed by every political party contesting the coming election and their commitment to it stated loud and clear.

The energy shortfall of four years ago has been addressed. It has not gone away but there have been significant improvements. Thirty years ago the energy mix was about 70 hydel-generated with 30 per cent from other sources. Today that figure is nearly reversed, and the expensive energy mix is a significant drag-anchor in regard to export competiveness because of the high prices of per-unit of electricity. Cheaper hydel-generated electricity would be a universal benefit for the common man as well as industry and our hard-pressed exporters. This is not a problem that is ever going to go away, it can only be managed, not eradicated. Water is a finite resource and how well it is managed is going to determine the future health and prosperity of the nation. We wish this policy good fortune.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2018.

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