Dividing the water cake

If luck would have it, Pakistan's much delayed national water policy may finally be passed soon, though given the slack workings of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) it's premature to say just how soon. The good news is that the matter is finally scheduled to be tabled to the CCI today. But while the policy is reported to have been prepared in consultation with the provinces, consultations with the academia, think tanks and civil society organisations were conspicuous by its absence.

"There have been virtually no consultations on the draft at least for the past few years. The water policy has been treated like a proverbial football or a hot potato, bouncing back and forth between different ministries and departments. No one will own the document if the policy is seen to have been developed in a vacuum. This is a serious concern, especially with water being a provincial subject," says Imran Khalid who is the lead on water and environmental affairs at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute.

The business and industrial community are also left out of water consultations. Granted that according to official estimates, irrigation uses more than 90 percent of the water currently utilized in Pakistan, which makes water a farming subject - and farming is an area that does not have a vocal civil society. But any investments in water infrastructure, efficient usage, or the impact of proper water pricing will affect the citizens at large as well as the industries.

Lack of consultations, however, are only one leg of the problem. The bigger problem being the general lack of awareness about the country's growing water scarcity, and its implications. This keeps the matter from morphing into a political agenda via political manifestos or otherwise.

The crisis begins right from the top. In Pakistan, education is a right guaranteed by the constitution, so is the right to information. Both are not fully implemented, but at least they exist on paper and can be demanded from the state whenever the constituency for education and information gains momentum. But how ironic is it that water - the basic necessity of life - is not a right guaranteed by Pakistan's constitution, although nearly eight years ago the United Nations had recognized the human right to water and sanitation as "essential to the realisation of all human rights".

While water is a provincial subject in Pakistan, according to WHO's examination of Pakistani laws, "local government ordinances of 2013 in the provinces infer the responsibilities for safe drinking water and sanitation to the local governments." And the less said about the state and power of local governments in the country the better. The recognition of any problem is usually the first step towards its solution.

Considering the absence of discussions on water on media and by think tanks, universities, business chambers etc, it is safe to say Pakistanis are not acutely aware of the intensity of the water problem. It is also not a well-recognised fact that unlike power supply, water cannot be easily 'generated' by IPPs or imported ala CASA.

The demand and supply side affairs of water management is a complex affair. It does not only require infrastructure spending on water reservoir, productivity, canal management and so forth. It also requires a change in the way individuals and businesses lead their lives; and a re-think in the crops produced by this country, which in turn would lead to a change in industries given that many industries in Pakistan are agro-based.

Finding the solution for water management is also about deciding how to divide the (water) cake - a cake that is becoming scarce by the day. How to distribute the slices of (water) cake among the provinces and the economic sectors will be a far and difficult and politically contentious issue than the distribution of the fiscal cake under the NFC Award. The sooner this subject is put at the top of the political and developmental agenda, the better and less contentious it would be. Meanwhile, population ministries and departments must speed up their efforts to decelerate Pakistan's population growth. Failure to do so would mean too many people, chasing too little water.