Issues related to the availability of clean water and proper sanitation facilities could not be taken up even after the passage of the 18th Amendment, as the provincial governments failed to take any initiative in this regard so far.
A new report "Off-track, off-target: Why investment in water, sanitation and hygiene is not reaching those who need it most," released on Friday by the international charity WaterAid, shows that if urgent action is not taken, the Pakistan government will fail to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) pledged to reducing the number of people without sanitation by 2015.
Sadiq Ahmed Khan, Country Director of WaterAid said, "48 million Pakistani citizens' defecate in the open and basic toilet is a dream to realise. Pakistan, under the Millennium Development Goals, is committed to supplying 93 percent of the population with safe water and 64 percent of the population with adequate sanitation by year 2015, however still only 45 percent people use improved sanitation facilities. At current rate of progress, the water target will be missed by 7 years (2022) and the sanitation target by 13 years (2028), as given in the MDG -2015. If this trend continues, 52.8 million people will be deprived of safe drinking water and 43.2 million will have no access to adequate sanitation facilities."
According to the National Drinking Water Policy (NDWP), Pakistan's goal is to provide universal access to drinking water in an equitable, efficient and sustainable manner by 2025. Child mortality in the country is around 97 in every 1,000 births, while diarrhoea accounts for 14 percent of the total deaths. Estimated annual diarrhoea deaths in 2008 were put at 59,220 - second to India, where around 413,400 die from diarrhoea.
Today 87 percent of world population enjoys access to safe drinking water including 84 percent residing in the developing regions. Still 2.6 billion people lack access to improved sanitation, most of them living in developing countries out of which 1.2 billion do not have any facility at all.