A so called resourceful country of Pakistan keeps facing natural resource depletion. The country seems to be coming out of gas and power crisis after a tough decade, thanks to imported fuel and machinery. Another crisis, subtle but with griever long term consequences may hit the 200 million plus inhabitants in a decade or so.
A deadly serious water crisis is brewing. BR Research has been advocating building a consensus on national water policy. The problem with falling quantity of water can somehow be compared to inappropriate polices that Pakistan adopted with natural gas. However, the gravity of water shortage promises to be much more than that of natural gas. Besides quantity, deteriorating quality of water is unprecedented and is a silent killer.
State Bank of Pakistan has realized the problem and has devoted a chapter on water sustainability in its recently published annual report in an attempt to bring the issue in mainstream macroeconomic framework.
How ironic that mass of land being fed and prospered on Indus water basin through thick and thin of pre-industrial era; is now in days of numerous scientific solutions for conservation and consistent quality supply of water is facing a looming threat of both falling quantity and quality of water.
Within South Asia, the average rainfall in Pakistan is the lowest - less than half of India and less than one fifth of Bangladesh. Leaving the country to rely primarily on ground water (annual average: 50 MAF) and river flows (annual average: 143.3 MAF). The reliance on predominantly single water basin flow, Indus river, which emanates from the land controlled by India is posing serious threats in case of any escalation of terms with the hostile neighbor. The situation is much different from others as India drives water from 12 water basins, while Bangladesh has three basins to feed water.
The policymakers are simply sleeping on the issue which is evident from the fact that water storage in Pakistan is only better than Ethiopia in the whole world. According to the World Bank, Pakistan’s storage capacity is a mere 150 cubic meters per person which is much lower than many other economies. The reservoirs storage capacity is of 30 days of consumption versus standard requirement of 120 days. 
No wonder, Pakistan is being categorized close to water scarcity with per capita availability of 1,017 cubic meters versus 1,600 cubic meters per capita in India. According to The World Resource Institute, by 2030, Pakistan will be into extreme water stress condition. Was anyone talking about joining G-20 club by that time? How long will the country continue to live on three water reservoirs built between 1967-78? Why has no meaningful reservoir been built in the last four decades? Why is it not on country’s priority list?
There is a huge unrealized cost the country is paying in the absence of adequate storage. This is apart from wastage due to outdated agriculture water distribution system (average annual wastage: 24.3MAF). To add to the ado, water productivity of cereal crops in Pakistan is less than one third of India and less than one sixth of China. Had the water been properly priced, productivity could have been much higher. The need is to have a policy reform in managing water and how to enhance water storage.
This is not even the scarier part. The ground water and surface water (rivers flow) is mixing with contamination from chemical, fertilizer and pesticides use in agriculture, and discharge of waste from unregulated industries and households into nearby rivers, drains, streams and ponds. Thus the physical, microbial and toxic heavy metals waste in water not only contaminates the surface water, but also seeps through fresh water bodies into the ground water aquifers making it unfit for drinking and agriculture use.
The under-ground water samples in places have arsenic levels of 200 micrograms per liter against WHO requirement of 10 micrograms and government’s limit of 50 micrograms. The presence of heavy metal cannot be treated simply by boiling or by using simple filters.
According to a study, one-fourth of Pakistan population (50mn people) is at risk of arsenic poisoning form contaminated groundwater It is a silent killer and it may disproportionately increase the health bills of households, if they have access to medical facilities.
There could not be any other issue important than falling quality of both ground and surface water. The importance cannot be over emphasized. Watch this space for more on the issue.
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