Daily Times

With a population of more than 200 million people, Pakistan is facing a daunting task to manage the worst water crisis. It is not only shortage of water for crops but the availability of water for general consumption in most of the urban centres of the country is also becoming a major challenge.

On March 29, Indus River System Authority (ISRA) which is supposed to regulate and manage the distribution of water to provinces for cultivation of crops in its meeting held in Islamabad recommended that at least two mega dams to cope with the acute shortage of water be built. The last mega dam which was constructed in Pakistan was the Tarbela Dam on river Indus which became functional in 1974. Earlier, another mega dam which was built was on river Jhelum called as Mangla Dam which became operational in 1967. Both these dams, which are now almost half a century old, have completed their life and the construction of new water reservoir for power generation and release of water for cultivation is overdue. The other day Supreme Court also took notice of depleting water resources in Pakistan.

According to the reports, ISRA projected 31 percent water shortage in early Kharif sowing season and pointed out that Punjab and Sindh, the two major beneficiaries of the Indus River System and major food crop growing provinces, will face 31 percent water shortage. In that meeting the representatives of Pakistan Meteorological Department and WAPDA revealed that snow coverage was about 50 percent less in catchment areas in the country which will cause severe water shortages during the summer season.

Ownership of resources, whether natural, mineral, financial, energy or water is a national duty. A country cannot progress and develop unless its people and leadership have basic ownership of things which are directly related to their survival

It is not for the first time that alarm bells have been raised over the impending acute water crisis in Pakistan. Since the last several years the country is facing severe water shortages particularly during the winter season and every year in the months of February and March news about Tarbela and Mangla Dams reaching dead levels are published. Every year, there is the issue of water reaching the Arabian Sea during the monsoon season causing a loss of several billion rupees. The two mega dams, Tarbela and Mangla can hardly meet energy and cultivation requirements of Pakistan particularly when sedimentation level in the two dams has sharply increased thus reducing their water storage capacity. In order to deal with that issue, it was revealed at IRSA meeting that, ‘Wapda will present a case to Isra for further increasing the minimum operating level of Mangla Dam from 1,050 feet to 1,060 feet in the next 15 days.’ But would such measures help overcome water shortages in the country particularly when there is a widening gap in demand and supply of water?

There is no quick fix solution or a short cut to deal with the severe water shortage in Pakistan but one can think of four measures, which if taken seriously and professionally, can help bridge the gap in demand and supply of water in the country. First, instead of building mega dams which are environmentally harmful, the government should focus on constructing small dams for energy and irrigation purposes. These dams could be built in areas which are feasible for such projects particularly in KP, Gilgit and Baltistan. At present, hardly 20 percent of the needs of electricity are met from hydel resources which can be more than 50 percent if small dams are built particularly in areas which are feasible for power storage and generation. Second, deforestation which is environmentally devastating needs to be prevented by all means. It is yet to be seen how far the project launched by PTI government in KP to plant one billion trees will help restore environmental balance because a lot of allegations of corruption and nepotism against the KP government concerning its billion tree project have been put in the last one year.

In a country like Bhutan, the total forest area is 70 percent which enables it to control environmental pollution and maintain its water resources. Unlike Bhutan, total forest area in Pakistan is two percent which is highly insufficient. In a country where the writ of the state is not to be seen in protecting natural resources including forests and timber mafia in connivance with the high-ups is able to make billions of rupees a year, one can only expect worst to happen. Only by claiming to plant millions of tress will not prevent global warning and climate change but the maintenance of such tress is also a fundamental requirement. The link between forest and rainfall exists but even at the grassroots level there is no proper awareness in this regard.

Third, wastage and stealing of water is another menace in Pakistan particularly when it comes to the maintenance of canals and pipelines supplying water to the agricultural fields and urban areas. Daily, millions of gallons of water are either wasted or stolen and those who are involved in such crimes are able to get away because those who are supposed to implement laws are themselves involved in such corruption. For example, the city of Karachi with a population of more than 20 million is facing a shortfall of 500 million gallons of water a day.

The total requirement of water for the inhabitants of Karachi is 1 billion gallons a day but gets hardly 500 gallons a day and that too fails to reach the consumers because either it is stolen or is used by the tanker mafia. Water crisis in Karachi is like a time bomb, which if explode can result into water riots in the city. Every year, the people of Karachi pay around Rs 20 billion to the tanker mafia as they have to purchase water because water is not supplied regularly at the homes and at the same time they also get bills containing water charges! The much publicized bulk water supply project for Karachi called as K-4, which is a joint venture of federal and provincial governments, is also at stake because of its slow progress. Otherwise, there exists a possibility that Karachi will face a situation like the South Africa city of Cape Town which will ran out of water in coming two months as water taps will go dry because of severe drought.

Finally, control over the use of water needs to be ensured by creating proper awareness among people to conserve water and prevent its wastage. At least 15 percent of water for irrigation and daily use is wasted by the consumers which further widens gap in demand and supply of water. A comprehensive water policy needs to be formulated by the government in consultation with the concerned stakeholders so that the impending drought because of predicted less rainfall during the monsoon season can be effectively handled.

Ownership of resources, whether it is natural, mineral, financial, energy or water is a national duty. A country cannot progress and develop unless its people and leadership possess basic ownership of things which are directly related to their survival. Water crisis in Pakistan will get further acute if the wakeup call given is not taken seriously. Environmental factors like global warming and climate change do count for the deepening of water crisis along with India’s policy to bleed Pakistan by reducing the supply of water from rivers which enters from its country to its western neighbour regardless of the violation of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty but what is required is to consider the four measures examined above.

The writer is Meritorious Professor of International Relations at the University of Karachi. E-mail: amoonis@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, April 6^th 2018.