Now the World Bank says Pakistan gets a poor economic return from its significant water resources. The economic costs from poor water and sanitation, floods and droughts are estimated to be 4pc of GDP, or Rs12 billion a year. The economic costs of degradation of the Indus delta are estimated to be around Rs2 billion. Taken together all this puts the country’s economic managers in a bad light. The report says little attention is paid to the environmental outcomes from water and water-dependent ecosystems – rivers, lakes, wetlands and the Indus delta. They are in rapid decline. This is causing biodiversity loss, greatly reduced stock of freshwater and reduced protection from storms provided by coastal mangrove forests. Excessive water withdrawals and widespread pollution are the main causes of decline. It says water security is undermined by poor water resource management and poor water service delivery—including irrigation and drainage services – domestic water supply and sanitation services. Some growing long-term water-related risks are poorly mitigated. It says there is no proper system of data collection, analysis of data and action based on analysis. It warns that climate change will make water inflows more variable between and within years, increasing the severity of floods and droughts. The biggest challenges pertain to governance, especially in irrigation and urban water supply. These challenges mainly relate to inadequate legal frameworks and the inadequacy of policy implementation.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2019.
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