Daily Times

Water is universally known to be synonymous with life. But negligence and ignorant attitude towards this blessing of God hae resulted in its acute shortage and contamination. The UN held a conference in Stockholm, Sweden, under the theme of World Water Week. The motto was Seeds of Change: Innovative Solutions for a water-wise world. This Mach, United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres also warned at the opening of the global body’s first major meeting on water resources that the future of humanity’s “lifeblood,” water, was under threat worldwide. He further said, “We have broken the water cycle, destroyed ecosystems, and contaminated ground waters,” at the three-day summit in New York, in which some 6,500 participants were gathered, including a dozen heads of state and government.

Given such a grave threat of water depletion, the water’s unusual use has not been ended. In some areas of the world, the UN underlined, people are intentionally misusing water. For instance, more water has been reportedly wasted in washing vehicles, and houses without need. Industries are also wasting water without recycling. Such negligent attitude must be stopped to save water for the sack of life.

Coming to Pakistan, water resources are in considerable amounts, yet some areas are affected by saltness. Fortunately, the land of the country is blessed with enough water. But the worrying thing is that the water has become contaminated by the lack of attention of the people. Human and animal waste is draining into rivers and sea without recycling. Lack of proper knowledge about biodiverse and artificial substances for the field to make enough yields has also caused depletion and contamination of the groundwater treasury.

The water problem is the Achilles’ heel of the country.

Sadly, where the people are becoming addicted to bypassing their moral duties and playing dangerously with natural resources, federal and provincial government’s role is not appreciable. Despite strict laws and rules given on water management and distribution and other natural resources, the implementation remains unseen. Concerned official departments are also seen lenient.

A few years ago, companies were given contracts in Sindh to explore the gas and petrol reservoirs. Undoubtedly, it was a timely and better effort by the then governments to boost the country’s frail economy and save the country from the heavy burden of importing for the energy sector, but the companies were not properly dictated.

They spread the vires network around the place wherever they got clues about reservoirs, and they blasted bombs for the digging. Eventually, after some months, nearby areas and villages, where the only source of potable water was unearthed water pumped by handpumps and electrical motors, water coming from handpumps and electrical motors became completely polluted and toxic. Many diseases took hold such as kidney, respiratory, and liver failures.

Sadly, villages near Taluka Hala, District Matiari, are suffering a lot of problems due to drinking toxic water and are compelled to drink that water because of not available any other source of potable water. Many times, they have protested and asked the government’s concerned departments but their hue and cry has gone unaddressed.

Notwithstanding the digitally rich global world, latest modalities have remained inaccessible for Pakistan, specifically for its official departments. Not taking in developed countries but also in developing countries technology has prevailed in most of the official departments, and its expedient usage has made things easier. Many countries are taking advantage of using new technology by recycling the water and making it re-potable.

The magical invention of Artificial Intelligence(AI) has caused widespread debates across the world. keeping its disadvantages aside, AI can be a helpful tool for preserving and recycling water in considerable amounts. If it is used in this manner to benefit human beings in various fields such as water preservation, health, agriculture, etc., it will be praised and applied accordingly in a fruitful way.

Regrettably, reporting on such a high scale of contaminated water being distributed to the masses via water lines, the governments have not even bothered to ask the concerned departments for such ineligibility and incapability. By drinking contaminated and toxic water many diasporas in the country have faced surges in fatal diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, etc. These lethal diseases have been affecting every age of people for a long time, even newly borne babies are not safe from these monsters. Sadly in remote areas of Sindh and Baluchistan province, people have to go far to get water for drinking, in the Thar desert of Sindh masses have to go for several kilometers only to fetch potable water because where they are living there the water is not available, rarely, if rain showers then they have muddy wells for storing rainwater, otherwise they have to follow the same cycle of a long journey for getting water. However, in the recent past, the report allegedly declared that the big cities some population of the country has been drinking contaminated water with a mix-up of feces. What else big fraud be with our innocent masses than this?

Despite a grave warning by the UN general secretary, if the governments especially developing countries do not pay due heed, it will cause a huge crisis in the shape of ill masses and sick nation’s coming youth with a lack of immune power and considerable abilities. The already climate-hit and inflation-hit country cannot afford to harvest such an ineligible generation. As water is an integral part of life, life cannot be survived without water and also life cannot be survived productively by drinking contaminated water with multiple harmful germs. This serious monster of water depletion and water contamination must be addressed timely.

After all, this research and cautioned warning by the UN general secretary must be taken seriously. both governments ought to take stable and strict actions against the water management authorities, and the theme of World Water Week must be taken on the board with ensured implementations. The governments must take every stakeholder on the board and carve out a strictly viable strategy that can ensure addressing the water-related problems and provide clean and germ-free potable water to the nation specifically to the remote and affected areas. Moreover, the technology can be helpful to use in the mechanism, as it can be fruitful to save water by recycling the used water. Subsequently, it also can save to flow of waste and sewerage to rivers and seas directly and contaminate the ecosystem of water species. Though the laws and regulations are already given in the statute book, the concerned authorities have to implement those laws intensively.

Considering such a sorrowful scenario of water pollution and depletion, the concerned authorities are needed to tackle this problem on an immediate basis. Undoubtedly, countries future lies on the shoulders of the coming generations, If the generation is not healthy how a country can harvest a better and prosperous future for stability and prosperity? The water problem is the Achilles’ heel of the country. The earlier it would be tackled, the better future is yielded.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at kazimlaghari@gmail.com