Water urgency

We are long past the point of calling Karachi's water crisis a 'threat'; it has rather become an everyday reality and a city-wide infrastructural disaster. Despite repeated assurances, K-IV - the mega water supply project that was meant to bridge the gap between demand and supply — has instead become a symbol of everything that is wrong with how the city is run.

This demand and supply gap has ballooned massively over the years. The city now needs nearly 1,200 million gallons a day, but an inconsistent supply of 650 million gallons from the River Indus and Hub Dam leaves citizens scrambling for water tankers. The water that is available and meant for the public is instead utilised for industrial needs or wasted in leakages.

Currently, budget estimates for the K-IV project are exponentially rising owing to increased costs of construction materials, the already-extended deadline is being pushed even further, and work on the fourth component of the major project has not even begun. While the official deadline has already been pushed to 2027, internal assessments have revealed that the project's completion could take about five more years. This means Karachi will likely remain parched well into the next decade. In the interim, the vacuum left by the state is inevitably filled by exploitative groups that force residents to pay exorbitant rates for a basic human right.

The population of Karachi is not static. By the time K-IV trickles into the system, the population will have likely outgrown the project's capacity, rendering the so-called solution obsolete upon arrival. The city is effectively chasing a moving target, bound by administrative incompetence. Unless there is genuine accountability, the city will remain trapped in this cycle of promises that offer nothing but dried up water pipes.