Daily Times

Experts believe that all Pakistanis, irrespective of where they reside are vulnerable to water scarcity. This issue can be attributed to a plethora of reasons. Our agrarian economy uses up a great amount of surface water. Just as water sustains life, wasting it threatens life. Unfortunately, we do not have a good nexus between technology and water usage to measure the paramount losses. Some other factors playing a role in this scarcity phenomenon can be a change in our hydrological cycle because of climatic factors, and political power play leading to negligence towards mainstream issues. All this has led to a privation on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services.

Sustainable Development Goal number 6 covers the topic of ‘Clean Water and Sanitation’. Target 6.1 pertains to ‘achieving a universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all, by 2030’. In 2010, the UN General Assembly recognized the human right to water and sanitation (through Resolution 64/292). According to WHO/UNICEF’s Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, in 2017, only 35 percent of the population had a safely managed status for the case of drinking water services in Pakistan. So there is no surprise that Pakistan ranks in the top ten countries with lowest access to safe water. The PSLM Survey of 2018-19 reported that typically, 30 percent of households travel for quality water. Our groundwater is also contaminated with harmful chemicals from waste from industrial zones, leather tanneries, and agrochemicals. According to PDHS 2017-18, only 7 percent of households followed appropriate water treatment practices – which does not bode well with the amount of contamination we have.

According to WHO, every dollar spent on water and sanitation services will lead to a return on investment of $4.3 because of reduction in healthcare costs, improved productivity, and less premature deaths in newborns

Target 6.2 states ‘by 2030 achieving access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and ending open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations’. In this context, around 35 percent of the households do not have any form of sanitation systems. The provincial divide in this case is disquieting. These ordinary percentages have a horrifying story associated with them – Pakistan has a stunting rate of 38 percent, which can unfortunately be attributed to lack of proper sanitation. The WHO defines stunting as the impaired growth when the height-for-age of children is more than two standard deviations below the WHO Child Growth Standards median. According to the World Bank inadequate water supply and sanitation costs around four percent of GDP.

As a ray of hope, there have been notable achievements in this regard such as Punjab government’s ‘Open Defecation-Free Punjab’ plan, and ‘Khadim-e-Punjab Child Nutrition and Stunting Reduction Programme’. However, unless we want a situation similar to what Cape Town went through, we should remember that it took Pakistan around seventy-one years to draft its National Water Policy, which culminated in April 2018. How long will we wait for words and suggestions to be put into practice? The water-energy nexus should be kept in check with the relevant departments. A paradigm shift, in the form of usage of less water intensive crops can be an option, provided that the farmers are given adequate guidance and financial aid in this regard.

Our country’s water policies should be catered around the notion of ‘who gets what’. Apart from a directed provision of water, there need to be attempts at targeted water pricing also. According to WHO, every dollar spent on water and sanitation services will lead to a return on investment of $4.3 because of reduction in healthcare costs, improved productivity, and less premature deaths in newborns. Thus, treatment plants are the need of the time to cater to the recycling component of water wastage. The gap in the provision of water in the urban areas, especially the informal settlements – due to increasing pressures of urbanization and political gimmicks, should be catered by our investment choices in water infrastructure. The use of satellite imagery for mapping water sources and their distribution should be promoted and facilitated by the relevant stakeholders. This use of technology can also help us strengthen the capacity of WAPDA and ISRA for monitoring and tracking usage of water. Finally, amidst the fear of resurgence of Covid-19, we need adequate access to hand washing facilities which is the ‘first line of defence’. This is much needed to adhere with the SOPs now and in the future, as we gradually reopen the economy. Can our water resources sustain this quandary and are we prepared?

Dr. Izza Aftab is the chairperson of the Economics Department at Information Technology University, Lahore. She is also the Director of the SDG Tech Lab and the Program Director of Safer Society for Children. She has a PhD in Economics from The New School University (NY, USA) and is a Fulbrighter. She tweets @izzaaftab.

Noor Ul Islam is currently working as a Research Associate at the SDG Tech Lab established in collaboration with Information Technology University, Lahore, UNDP and UNFPA. She is a post-graduate in Economics from Lahore University of Management Sciences. She tweets @Noor_Ul_Islam20