Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa needs to take allegations raised by the party’s own MNA seriously. Dawar Khan Kundi has complained that his party’s government is paying little attention to southern districts of the province. He has specifically highlighted the problem of contaminated water in his constituency in Tank district. The PTI has been opposing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz governments in the centre and Punjab for focusing singularly on mega-infrastructure projects at the cost of basic public services. The latter are essential elements for any durable and sustainable development agenda but the former isn’t unimportant either. Suffice it to say that it is not a matter of either infrastructure or services. A complementary focus on both based on expert advice is needed for socio-economic development. But the matter at hand is about the possibility of PTI government’s negligence in ensuring provision of basic services that the party expect’s — and rightly so — from its arch-rival PML-N governments. On the specific issue of water contamination and availability, it is not just the KP government that is seemingly failing its constituents. All provincial governments and successive federal governments have failed to give adequate attention to the country’s pressing water shortage problem. The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources’ (PCRWR) research suggests that 84 percent of the population does not have access to safe drinking water. In 1947, the country’s per capita water availability had stood at 5,300 cubic metres (CUM). It has been drastically reduced to less than 1,000 CUM by 2016. Population estimates suggest that by 2050 this statistic will come down to 482 CUM, exposing the country to absolute scarcity levels. There is a drastic need for better water management in the country. The situation can be improved by investing in programmes for water recycling and sewage and industrial water management and by reducing dependence of the economy on water-intensive crops, besides working for more efficient irrigation systems. Pakistan’s irrigation system is one of the most inefficient in the world and results in loss of large quantities of water. Lining of the canals with geomembranes to reduce water seepage can be an effective stopgap arrangement until the government devises a comprehensive overhaul plan. It is high time that the government gave priority to the country’s water problem. * Published in Daily Times, October 19th 2017.