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With A Severe Water Crisis Gripping The Province, There Is An Urgent Need For An Overreaching Provincial Water Policy
With A Severe Water Crisis Gripping The Province, There Is An Urgent Need For An Overreaching Provincial Water Policy
Overall, only 41 per cent of the households in Sindh have access to tap water, and
this figure decreases dramatically to seven per cent if only considering the rural
context.
In the agriculture sector, the largest user of water, the current canal irrigation
system’s efficiency of 34 per cent is poor and it needs to improve and be further
extended to the arid areas of Sindh.
If not addressed, the province could face a public health crisis. Last year, the
Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) found that 80 per cent
of the water samples collected from 14 districts of Sindh were unfit for human
consumption. It further added that in the megacity of Karachi, 90 per cent of the
water was unsafe. Moreover, 78 per cent of the water used in the hospitals of Sindh
was found to be contaminated and substandard.
Waterborne diseases are on the rise due to unaccounted for dumping of sewage in
the water bodies. Recently, a drug-resistant typhoid strain, identified first in
Hyderabad, spread from the city to various parts of the country.
Every year, many young children and women die in Tharparkar, where there is no
surface water available. The people of the area are severely malnourished due to
water scarcity and the inability to grow food. With such a scenario Sindh and by
extension, Pakistan, the country is far from achieving its adopted Sustainable
Development Goal number six which promises access to safe and affordable
drinking water for all by the year 2030.
Also, the quality of water is directly linked to industrial, urban and other public sector
usage patterns and practices. The waste and effluents generated by these urban
and industrial activities are eventually dumped into the water bodies without any
treatment thus polluting the water source for the others down the user chain. Most of
the cities in Sindh rely on poor and outdated water supply infrastructure which runs
parallel to the sewage lines. In the absence of proper drainage and treatment
facilities, the sewage water contaminates the freshwater supplies. In addition, the
industrial use of water is highly unregulated with poor implementation of laws and
regulation. On the other end of the spectrum, the cities are facing water shortages
due to mismanagement and poor governance. The commercial hub of Pakistan,
Karachi, receives an inflow of 670 million gallons per day (MGD) — only 55 per cent
of its total water requirement.
In the absence of lack of investment, low tariff rates and lackluster collection of bills,
it is the poor population residing in the cities that suffers the most as they have to set
aside a large sum of their income on regular basis to pay for water from illegal
sources and remain trapped in the circle of poverty.
A man is seen filling his jerrycan from a hand pump in interior Sindh. Photo: Amar
Gurio
Then there is climate change, which is a growing threat to the water resources and
water availability in Sindh. In the absence of appropriate measures being taken, the
province will experience further damages to human lives and economy. Sindh has
already witnessed a number of floods over the last 20 years due to inadequate
drainage and blockage of waterways. The rising temperatures each year bring
droughts in the region and exacerbate water scarcity.
Two of the largest freshwater lakes in Pakistan, Keenjhar and Haleji, are found in
Sindh. However, the reduced inflow of water from the Indus River significantly
impacts these wetlands and their surrounding ecosystems.
Unlike other provinces of Pakistan, Sindh requires a minimum environmental flow of
water to maintain the proper functioning and health of its water bodies such as the
Indus Delta mangroves and coastal wetlands. These mangroves and freshwater
lakes have to be safeguarded from degradation and over-exploitation as they not
only serve as fishery grounds but are vital to maintaining the natural balance of the
water ecosystems.
In light of the above scenario, the Sindh government needs to pay attention to its
governance and leadership strategy for fixing the fundamental flaws in local
governance, municipal authorities and related departments.
These should be enabled to enforce and implement water laws and regulation for the
benefit of the people of Sindh and protection of its water resources. Technological
innovations, research and evidence-based interventions should be adopted to
increase water productivity in all sectors.
An overarching Sindh Water Policy, a detailed master plan for each district and city
of Sindh, should be devised where decision making with equal representation of all
segments of society is ensured.