Daily Times

The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) has expressed dissatisfaction over the condition of drinking water in Sindh in the hearing of a case pertaining to non-functional water filtration and treatment plants in Karachi.

A video was shown at the hearing of water polluted with fecal matter being sent from treatment plants to city neighbourhoods for human consumption. The CJP rightly asked Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah if he was ready to drink the water.

That the state of drinking water in Pakistan is absolutely pitiful no longer comes across as a surprise anymore. Uncontrolled dumping of solid and industrial waste in fresh water sources and mixing of sewage and clean water due to poor infrastructure has caused more and more of Pakistan’s ground water to become contaminated.

The consumption of contaminated water has led to gastrointestinal diseases like cholera, polio, E.coli and botulism, which are prevalent in low-income neighbourhoods and remote areas.

In 2013, a senior scientific officer at the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) Jehangir Shah had stated on record that 80 percent of all illnesses in Pakistan and 40 percent of all deaths were caused by water borne diseases. A study conducted by UNICEF has found that 20-40 percent of hospital beds country-wide are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases. The UN has estimated that the public health issue costs Pakistan Rs 112 billion every year.

Unless emergency measures are devised to handle the situation, Pakistan’s water crisis is only going to get worse owing to climate change. This will impact our irrigation system and food security. Water availability per capita currently stands at 1,017 cubic metres, which is perilously close to the scarcity threshold of 1000 cubic metres. In 2009, water availability was 1,500 cubic metres. The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has rightly warned that Pakistan could run dry by 2025.

Despite these horrifying statistics, Pakistan still lacks a national water policy. The issue remains completely absent from the mainstream political discourse that remains obsessed with personal feuds and mudslinging among politicians.

The CJP has done well to chide the Sindh CM for the state of water in the province, specifically in the country’s biggest city. We need a comprehensive approach to deal with our water emergency. For Karachi, the authorities must begin by admitting their fault in surrendering the water needs of the city’s residents to market actors. Potable water is a public good and public’s representatives ought to make it available like other public goods and services.  *

Published in Daily Times, December 7^th 2017.