THIS is with reference to the article ‘Why Karachi thirsts for water’ (EOS, Jan 5), which turned out to be a sobering read. However, I am unsure if the situation is actually as serious as described, as there seems to be zero effort from the govern-ment to address the issue.

I have not seen any awareness campaign in society regarding the significance of water conservation in our daily activities. There is no legislation either with regard to dual plumbing and recycling grey water in commercial or residential establishments.

Besides, there is also no movement towards mandating flow and flush rates and capacities, or mandating labelling for flow rates. There is no effort at all to eliminate the entrenched tanker mafia that would actually reduce the cost of water delivery because it is 10 times cheaper to deliver water via pipes versus bowsers.

After over 75 years of independence, we still cannot deliver potable water to our people. We pay foreign exchange to import gas to boil water in order to make it drinkable. Is this not strange, or, should I say, sad and unfortunate?

Hasan Raza
Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2025