More than a billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, a basic necessity of life. In Pakistan alone, 38.5 million people lack access to safe drinking water and 50.7 million people lack access to improved sanitation, according to statistics data , Pakistanis are facing unprecedented shortage of clean drinking water and electricity due to the lowest recorded levels of water in the country’s dams, according to Pakistani Meteorological Department. The Error! No bookmark name given. Under-five in Pakistan is 99 deaths per 1000 children, according to Error! No bookmark name given.. About half of under-five deaths occur in six countries with large populations: India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Pakistan and China. Water and Error! No bookmark name given. are responsible for 60% of the total number of child mortality cases in Pakistan, with diarrheal diseases causing deaths of 200,000 under-five years’ children, every year. Unsafe drinking water is shown to lead to poverty through time spent by women and girls to fetch ‘drinkable’ water from long distances. The combination of unsafe water consumption and poor hygiene practices require treatments for water borne illnesses, decreased working days, and also contribute to lowering of educational achievement due to reduced school attendance by children.

It is sad to see the growing water crisis in Pakistan whose Indus Valley has been the center of some of the world’s greatest civilizations: Harappa and Mohenjo Daro (2600 to 1900 BC) and Gandhara, (1st-5th Centuries AD); their social, agricultural and economic systems were based on their interactions with rivers (Indus and its tributaries, including the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej and Kabul rivers, etc.) which provided irrigation and created fertile land for farming. Archaeologists believe that people of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa lived in sturdy brick houses that had as many as three floors. The houses had bathrooms that were connected to sewers. Their elaborate drainage system was centuries ahead of their time. A well established history, tradition and system of water management and entitlements has existed, from the Indus Valley Civilization to the 1960 Indus Water Treaty and the 1991 Water Accord which establish clear entitlements for each province and for each canal command to surface waters. The availability and development of water resources in Pakistan is gradually turning into a crisis and has reached at the level of inter-provincial conflict which needs to be resolved immediately. Besides water conveyance system losses the opposition to mega water storage projects is another critical factor adding to depletion of water resources. There is immense need of political consensus along with internal conflict resolution mechanisms to address the water crisis in Pakistan for making certain the future of country’s water security. In Pakistan there is 142 million acre feet of water flowing on annual basis in our rivers.

Out of this, 104 million acre feet of water is diverted to different canals systems. At very first stage 38 million acre feet of water is lost from our river system. About 25% of the water diverted to canal systems is lost as “line losses” and only 78 million acre feet of water is left in hand. The potential of ground water extractions is 40 million acre feet. Collectively there are 118 million acre feet of water available in water courses’ heads. At the end of the day after all loses there is only 70 million acre feet of water available after a total of 51% losses.

If we control these water losses alone there will be a minimum shortage of water. Nonetheless there are six very important water projects available in Pakistan, including Gomal Zam Dam with 1.14 million acre feet capacity, Mirani Dam with 0.3 million acre feet capacity, rising up of Mangla Dam has 3.0 million acre feet capacity, Spartha Dam with 0.2 million acre feet capacity, Bhasha Dam with 5.70 million acre feet and Sehwan Barrage with 0.6 million acre feet capacities. Combine potential of these projects is 10.5 million acre feet of water. While addressing the water related issues in Pakisatn be noted that that Kalabagh is used as “political tool” by some regimes in Pakistan despite the fact that this project has no worth for the future water potential of Pakistan.
 

It is said that future conflicts will be rooted in disputes over water. Take the case of Pakistan and India. Tensions related to water-sharing are nothing new in the subcontinent but they received fresh impetus with the construction of Baglihar Dam in Indian-held Kashmir. Last year Pakistan demanded compensation for reduced water supplies, which apparently hurt agricultural productivity in this country. But the potential for conflict runs deep and is not limited to states taking on other states. Only a few decades ago, Pakistan was considered to have an abundance of quality water, but a recent World Bank report stated that Pakistan was among the 17 countries that were currently facing a water shortage. During last 10 years or so, while we have been concentrating on Error! No bookmark name given., taking Error! No bookmark name given. with no results, promoting people to people contacts and Error! No bookmark name given., everyone else around us, realizing the water crisis have been building dams. India has silently Error! No bookmark name given. on rivers which are supposed to be Pakistan’s as per Error! No bookmark name given..

Similarly, China alone is building 95 major dams with a height of 200 feet or more, Turkey is constructing 51 large dams flowed by Iran with 48, Japan with 40 and India with 10 large dams. The Error! No bookmark name given. has recently warned that the country may face acute shortage of food and that the famine situation may crop up owing to the decreasing water resources. The biggest issue between Pakistan and India after the Kashmir is river water and India is expediting the construction work of dams an barrages on the remaining rivers of Pakistan. The past government of Pakistan did nothing in this regard to forbid India from doing this. At least 405 canals and 124 distributaries of Pakistan would dry up in the wake of Error! No bookmark name given. construction and large swathes ranging millions of hectares of land will turn arid. It is worried to mention that Error! No bookmark name given. and Error! No bookmark name given.are at the dead level for the past two decades, adding 38 million acres of land are being spoiled without having enough water. Within nations, downstream users may accuse upper riparians of stealing their water and thus their rights and livelihoods. This has long been a simmering issue in Pakistan, one that has stoked the fires of nationalism and increased the trust deficit between provinces. Water-related issues can also pit village against village, clan against clan and farmer against farmer. From the international stage to rivalry between individuals, the potential for conflict exists at every level.

We are not only wasting but also contaminating our water, thereby reducing its usability. Untreated industrial and domestic effluent is being discharged into water bodies and pesticides from farms are finding their way into streams and groundwater. Water quality is as important as its quantity because it affects the health of the nation, the productivity of its workforce and the arability of its land. Our policymakers must rise from their slumber and grasp the linkages between the adequate availability of clean water and social and economic development.

We have to note that Pakistan’s water situation is extremely precarious. Water availability has plummeted from about 5,000 cubic metres per capita in the early 1950s to less than 1,500 per capita today. The Indus civilization was the world’s third ancient civilization along with the Egyptian and the Babylonian. The demise of this earliest known civilization on the earth was due to shifting of the mighty Indus. The current condition of the Indus Valley has given birth to a sense of déjà vu and it seems history is repeating itself. The modern Indus is under tremendous pressure and its lower riparian migrating to other areas because of the destruction of the Indus due to the storage and diversion of water upstream.

If a sincere effort is not taken to reverse the water shortage problems, slowly but surely the lower Indus basin will be moving towards an ecological disaster and a famine like situation. In the present state of environmental awakening and global acceptance of lower riparian rights, Pakistan’s treatment of Sindh may be seen as a gross violation of the international norms. Sindh is already under tremendous repression from the center and Punjab and has a budding national movement. Water issue may become a source of discontent that may spiral out of control. The national aspirations of Sindh may then also be viewed as legitimate human rights issue.

A new agreement should be developed that must recognize the internationally accepted lower riparian rights and ensure sufficient water availability in the lower basin and the ecological balance of the River Indus and the Indus delta. International monitoring and dispute arbitration should be included within the agreement to resolve disputes within the gambit of international laws. The need for immediate action cannot be overstated. While Pakistan’s water crisis may not threaten its viability, it is undeniable that so long as the crisis rages on, essential components of the nation—such as the vital agricultural economy, the health of the population, and political and economic stability—lie very much in the balance.

Courtesy: Pakistan Observer