A water security policy

Pakistan is trapped in an abusive relationship with the monsoon season, as the same rains that are crucial for farmers are death-bringers for people in flood-sensitive areas. The numbers are staggering: the 2022 floods submerged one-third of the country, affected 33 million people and caused over $30 billion in damages. The 2025 floods claimed 1,039 lives, displaced more than four million people and inflicted billions more in economic losses. We have also seen crippling floods this year, though fortunately not on the same scale. Still, many of these disasters could have been mitigated, or even largely avoided, if we had a comprehensive national water security policy.

Experts have long warned that Pakistan must move beyond short-term emergency responses and adopt a comprehensive water strategy to address growing flood risks and the worsening water crisis. Part of the problem is that, right now, while we do have policies relating to water management and climate change issues, they are often siloed and not designed holistically, which negates much of their benefit and can even backfire under some circumstances.

Given that Pakistan is a highly water-stressed nation, water must be treated as an all-year concern, rather than a seasonal issue. Despite improvements in some areas of water management, much work is needed to meet the goals of the National Water Policy of 2018, with the Asian Water Development Outlook 2025 warning that improvement has not kept pace with risk, and implementation remains inconsistent.

But aside from full implementation of the 2018 policy and the 1991 Water Apportionment Accord for the provinces, we need investment in water storage and flood management infrastructure, stronger hydrological cooperation with our neighbours, climate-smart agriculture, and digital overhauls of water accounting and groundwater regulation. Long-term planning should not mean preparing the country for the next flood, but rather, preparing it for the next generation.