Squandering away our most precious resource

Pakistan was never great at managing its natural resources, especially its freshwater, but growing population pressures and the need to contend with climate change have made it an existential imperative to pay more attention to this issue.

Nature has been kind to Pakistan. The country enjoys access to the three major rivers of the mighty Indus, and the country is home to more than 7,000 glaciers, the highest number of such natural freshwater reservoirs anywhere other than the polar regions. These glaciers have been providing a perpetual source of water for the country, which alongside rainwater, feed the mighty rivers which traverse Pakistan, before pouring into the Arabian Sea. However, rising temperatures due to global warming have begun to cause an alarming level of glacial melt. In the short term, glacial melts lead to the creation of glacial lakes, which can burst when more melted water keeps gushing into them. Melting glaciers also increase the amount of water in the rivers which, coinciding with heavy rainfalls, causes flooding further afield. In the longer term, the reduction in the size of these glaciers will deplete water availability within major rivers on which the lives and livelihoods of multitudes of people depend.

Rather than thinking about water conservation and improving water efficiency, Pakistan has been wasting its precious freshwater resources using wasteful flood irrigation, and due to badly maintained irrigation systems which also cause massive water losses. Over 90 per cent of the country's freshwater is diverted to agriculture, where a significant proportion of it is lost due to inadequate water management, and due to the producing of water-thirsty crops like sugarcane.

Besides using irrigation systems which tap the rivers flowing out of glaciers, Pakistan has also been exploiting its groundwater sources with reckless abandon. Now our policymakers are keen to entice the Gulf states and China into investing in agriculture in the desperate bid to earn foreign exchange, which threatens to further deplete underground water sources.

Meanwhile, marginalised farmers have been experiencing major water stress, especially those whose land is located at the tail end of watercourses, where water often run out long due to inefficient water use by those more affluent, who occupy land at the head of watercourses.

Conversely, ordinary citizens across many rural areas and in unregulated and poorer urban neighborhoods don't have enough water to meet their household needs. Badly maintained water lines are often located perilously close to sewage systems, and there have been repeated reports of drinking water mixing with sanitation. Sporadic water tests in major cities have revealed unacceptable levels of faecal matter and heavy metals in water meant for human consumption. It is thus not surprising that water-borne diseases are a major cause of mortality within the country, and they lead to repeated bouts of sickness for adults, which then deplete already meager average household incomes, and cause a loss of productivity.

Women and girls bear the brunt of water scarcity, as the responsibility of fetching water for homes is usually a task relegated to females. The stubborn gender disparity in education, especially when girls become a little older, has also been linked to this onerous responsibility placed on girls to either help their mothers fetch water, or else, to stay at home to look after younger siblings while the mother is out getting water.

Pakistan now has a plethora of policies and plans to ensure equitable water access to all citizens. What we still need is real action which can alleviate the water stress of our smaller farmers and which can provide reliable, convenient and safe sources of water for meeting the daily needs of all households, especially those who cannot afford the luxury of boring their own tube-wells, purchasing water pumps, using filters or purchasing mineral water on a regular basis.