Last week World Water Day was observed throughout the world, including Pakistan. The day is held annually on 22 March, as a means of focusing attention on the importance of fresh water and raising awareness about the sustainable management of water resources.
It may be recalled here that an international day to celebrate fresh water was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly endorsed the move by designating 22 March, 1993, as the first World Water Day. Each year, World Water Day is used to highlight a specific aspect of the water issue. In 2015, World Water Day took up the theme of "Water and Sustainable Development". This year the theme is "Water and Jobs”.
UN World Water Day is part of a worldwide campaign to make sure that everyone has access to safe drinking water. The unfortunate fact is that many of the world’s poorest people remain deprived of this basic need. In many parts of the world, water taps, pipes and wells just don’t exist, and if they do they’re not affordable for a large number of people. It means drinking polluted water is their only option. This caused disease and death.
Some dire statistics highlight the importance of observing the Water Day. Around 650 million people around the world live without safe water, while 2.3 billion don’t have access to adequate sanitation. Sub-Saharan African women collectively spend at least 16 million hours collecting drinking water every day. 315,000 children die every year due to diseases caused by drinking unsafe drinking water.
This year World Water Day focused on how lack of clean water affects citizens, jobs and economies. Almost half the working population in the world works in water-related jobs. Three out of four jobs are water dependent, and one billion people work in agriculture, fishing and forestry. Another problem is that millions of people who work in water-related jobs are not protected by basic labour rights. Under the theme “Water and Jobs”, the year 2016 provides us an opportunity to consolidate and build upon the previous World Water Days to highlight the relationship between water and the decent work agenda in the quest for sustainable development.
The World Water Day has special importance for Pakistan. Water is Pakistan’s number one development issue. Pakistan’s agriculture meets about 40 percent of its water needs by extracting groundwater. But the water table is fast depleting and getting contaminated both in agricultural and urban areas. In a few years, our agriculture will not be tenable if the present rate of groundwater depletion and contamination continues. The unregulated use of ground water also has serious implications for our ecosystems and cropping patterns.
Signs of water stresses are everywhere, in terms of both availability and quality. However, the situation in Pakistan is worse than in many other countries due to decades of inadequate policies and practices. Pakistan is one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. Inadequate governmental policies have left Pakistan in one of the worst positions when it comes to water stress. According to a report by the International Monetary Fund, it is among the world’s 36 most water-stressed countries. This point becomes clearer if one looks at the per-capita availability of water in the country.
Pakistan’s population in 1951 was 34 million, and the water availability was 5,260 cubic meters (m3) per capita. In 2014, as per government’s estimates, water availability reached 1,000 cubic meters (m3) per person while the population has gone well over 190 million. This makes Pakistan officially water stressed according to the global standards. The situation threatens to get much worse for the next generation since they will experience greater water scarcity if one looks at WAPDA’s calculations which show that by 2020 the per capita water will be 909 cubic meters and by 2050 it would worsen to 769 cubic meters.
In a country where the agriculture sector contributes around 24 percent of the GDP and employs over 40 percent of the labour force, these statistics are quite alarming. Another relevant fact is that farming uses over 95 percent of freshwater resources unlike most of the developing countries where 70 percent freshwater resources are used for agriculture. As per Asian Development Bank estimates during 2000, 96 percent of the total amount of water drawn was employed in the agricultural sector, 2 percent in industry and 2 percent for domestic consumption. Additionally, significant numbers of Pakistanis are involved in non-agricultural water-based jobs like fishing, forestry, etc.
Climate change poses another serious threat to Pakistan’s water systems. The changing monsoon pattern is making water supply erratic in various parts of the country. It has started reaching the upper reaches of our Himalayan ranges and parts of Balochistan not traditionally covered by monsoon rains. Karachi and other coastal areas have also begun to receive more frequent warnings about cyclones.
Pakistan’s water issues are manageable, but for this we require a strong political will. The immediate need is to enhance water storage and to put a stop to the wastage of huge amounts of water. To encourage more efficient use of water, the water tariffs need to be revised, and water property rights need to be better defined. To this end, the government and the private sector need to come together to persuade the masses for water conservation. The recently elected local government bodies in the country could play an important role in achieving this objective at the local level.
This is an an opportune time for the government to formulate new policies to set the direction for Pakistan’s water economy. We need water to fuel our economy. For this purpose we should invest in latest water efficient technologies to preserve and develop our water systems. In this connection the best course for Pakistan will be to make water the central plank of its development agenda. We also need to base our energy, food, and disaster risk reduction policies on climate change projections. We have to address the issues of water access and water equity as a national priority. If we don’t do this, we cannot avoid the disaster looming ahead.
It may be recalled here that an international day to celebrate fresh water was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly endorsed the move by designating 22 March, 1993, as the first World Water Day. Each year, World Water Day is used to highlight a specific aspect of the water issue. In 2015, World Water Day took up the theme of "Water and Sustainable Development". This year the theme is "Water and Jobs”.
UN World Water Day is part of a worldwide campaign to make sure that everyone has access to safe drinking water. The unfortunate fact is that many of the world’s poorest people remain deprived of this basic need. In many parts of the world, water taps, pipes and wells just don’t exist, and if they do they’re not affordable for a large number of people. It means drinking polluted water is their only option. This caused disease and death.
Some dire statistics highlight the importance of observing the Water Day. Around 650 million people around the world live without safe water, while 2.3 billion don’t have access to adequate sanitation. Sub-Saharan African women collectively spend at least 16 million hours collecting drinking water every day. 315,000 children die every year due to diseases caused by drinking unsafe drinking water.
This year World Water Day focused on how lack of clean water affects citizens, jobs and economies. Almost half the working population in the world works in water-related jobs. Three out of four jobs are water dependent, and one billion people work in agriculture, fishing and forestry. Another problem is that millions of people who work in water-related jobs are not protected by basic labour rights. Under the theme “Water and Jobs”, the year 2016 provides us an opportunity to consolidate and build upon the previous World Water Days to highlight the relationship between water and the decent work agenda in the quest for sustainable development.
The World Water Day has special importance for Pakistan. Water is Pakistan’s number one development issue. Pakistan’s agriculture meets about 40 percent of its water needs by extracting groundwater. But the water table is fast depleting and getting contaminated both in agricultural and urban areas. In a few years, our agriculture will not be tenable if the present rate of groundwater depletion and contamination continues. The unregulated use of ground water also has serious implications for our ecosystems and cropping patterns.
Signs of water stresses are everywhere, in terms of both availability and quality. However, the situation in Pakistan is worse than in many other countries due to decades of inadequate policies and practices. Pakistan is one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. Inadequate governmental policies have left Pakistan in one of the worst positions when it comes to water stress. According to a report by the International Monetary Fund, it is among the world’s 36 most water-stressed countries. This point becomes clearer if one looks at the per-capita availability of water in the country.
Pakistan’s population in 1951 was 34 million, and the water availability was 5,260 cubic meters (m3) per capita. In 2014, as per government’s estimates, water availability reached 1,000 cubic meters (m3) per person while the population has gone well over 190 million. This makes Pakistan officially water stressed according to the global standards. The situation threatens to get much worse for the next generation since they will experience greater water scarcity if one looks at WAPDA’s calculations which show that by 2020 the per capita water will be 909 cubic meters and by 2050 it would worsen to 769 cubic meters.
In a country where the agriculture sector contributes around 24 percent of the GDP and employs over 40 percent of the labour force, these statistics are quite alarming. Another relevant fact is that farming uses over 95 percent of freshwater resources unlike most of the developing countries where 70 percent freshwater resources are used for agriculture. As per Asian Development Bank estimates during 2000, 96 percent of the total amount of water drawn was employed in the agricultural sector, 2 percent in industry and 2 percent for domestic consumption. Additionally, significant numbers of Pakistanis are involved in non-agricultural water-based jobs like fishing, forestry, etc.
Climate change poses another serious threat to Pakistan’s water systems. The changing monsoon pattern is making water supply erratic in various parts of the country. It has started reaching the upper reaches of our Himalayan ranges and parts of Balochistan not traditionally covered by monsoon rains. Karachi and other coastal areas have also begun to receive more frequent warnings about cyclones.
Pakistan’s water issues are manageable, but for this we require a strong political will. The immediate need is to enhance water storage and to put a stop to the wastage of huge amounts of water. To encourage more efficient use of water, the water tariffs need to be revised, and water property rights need to be better defined. To this end, the government and the private sector need to come together to persuade the masses for water conservation. The recently elected local government bodies in the country could play an important role in achieving this objective at the local level.
This is an an opportune time for the government to formulate new policies to set the direction for Pakistan’s water economy. We need water to fuel our economy. For this purpose we should invest in latest water efficient technologies to preserve and develop our water systems. In this connection the best course for Pakistan will be to make water the central plank of its development agenda. We also need to base our energy, food, and disaster risk reduction policies on climate change projections. We have to address the issues of water access and water equity as a national priority. If we don’t do this, we cannot avoid the disaster looming ahead.
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