This past Saturday the Supreme Court sought the appearance of Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif after coming to know of the alarming amount of untreated wastewater being disposed of in the Ravi river.540 million gallons of untreated waste water are being discharged into the river every day.Later, the CM appeared before the court and gave the bench his assurances that he would come up with a comprehensive plan for the provision of clean water to Punjab’s citizens. The fact that the CM had to be summoned by the court to acknowledge this problem does not bode well for the people of Punjab. The scarcity of clean water is perhaps the most pressing issue Pakistan is facing today. According to the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF), two thirds of Pakistani households drink bacterially contaminated water. This phenomenon results in the deaths of 53,000 children yearly.UNICEF also warns that 30 to 40 percent of deaths nationwide are linked to poor water quality. In August 2017 the chief of the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR)had warned that rapid depletion of ground water may soon create a worsening water crisis in major Pakistani cities. The scarcity of potable water doesn’t affect the state of health in the country alone. It has economic repercussions as well. In 2012, the World Bank warned that water pollution costs Pakistan $5.7 billion yearly. This amounts to almost 4 percent of this country’s GDP. These shocking figures clearly show how serious this situation is.Matters are exacerbated by rapid urbanization, population growth, lack of checks and balances on industrial waste management and lack of access to safe toilets. If the Punjab CM is serious about providing the people with clean water, all such issues will have to be addressed. Furthermore, the Supreme Court should exert similar pressure on other provincial governments. After all,if governments are not able to provide their people with clean drinking water, it is a clear violation of their constitutional mandate. * Published in Daily Times, February 12th 2018.