PAKISTAN’s burgeoning population, changing climate patterns and poor planning have led to the depletion of the country’s resources, particularly water. Pakistan has been confronting water scarcity for a long period of time, but no effective water storage strategy has been adopted by successive governments.
According to the National Annual Plan 2019-20, the per capita availability of water in the country has decreased to an alarming level of 935 cubic metres from 5,260 cubic metres over the last seven decades.
If the government fails to formulate an effective conservation storage strategy now, the per capita water availability would decrease to 860 cubic metres by 2025 and even down to 500 cubic metres by 2040.
According to a report released by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), the country touched the “water stress line” in 1990 and crossed the “water scarcity line” in 2005. Experts fear that the country might run out of water by 2025 and would have to face a drought-like situation. Needless to say it will have a drastic effect on the country.
Regrettably, Pakistan’s water-storage capacity is one of the lowest in the world, and its per capita capacity of 121 cubic metres is equal to that of Ethiopia. The per capita storage capacity of some developed countries, such as the United States and China, is over 2,000 cubic metres. Even India, which is several times more populous than Pakistan, has per capita storage capacity of 200 cubic metres.
The storage capacity of our major national reservoirs manages only 10 per cent of our annual inflow against the world average of 40 per cent. This is the reason of decrease in water storage capacity to less than 30 days against a minimum requirement of 120 days.
The government needs to wake up and realise the gravity of this issue before the country runs completely dry. It must take appropriate steps, such as building multipurpose dams, strengthening existing reservoirs, enforcement of the Water Apportionment Accord of 1991 to bridge inter-provincial differences, formulation of trustworthy and clear-cut policies, and the establishment of implementation framework for the purpose.
A.Qadeer Seelro
Larkana
Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2021
