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Where has the drinking water in Karachi disappeared?

Government development programmes should be freezed for five years; metro projects, motorways should be stopped and construction of dams should commence forthwith; The World Bank and Earth Policy Institute have issued warnings to Pakistan that the country has a looming threat of water crisis which is far larger and dangerous than the energy issue.

Dear readers, take a careful and deep look at the drawing and understand it before reading my column. Through this column I want you to imagine as to what should we understand if in an area of one acre stands water upto one foot? The basic unit to measure water is Million Acre Feet (MAF), meaning thereby instead of one acre, if one foot water is in 1 million (10 lacs) acre area, it would be called one MAF. This is an established method all over the world to measure water resources.

Now I am coming to the actual point. In the previous days 30 MAF (one foot water in crore acre) water in Kotri Baraj Sindh was just wasted because of inefficiency of the Government as it could not be stored and got mixed with the sea water. This caused water crisis in Karachi, a Government department working on water has pointed it out in a clandestine report.  

The wastage of fresh water (MAF 30) is a national tragedy and only a person with an empathetic heart will understand how grave the situation is. Had this water not been wasted, people of Karachi would not have been standing in queues for water, which is actually available in abundance.  

The availability of water in Pakistan is 145 MAF but the storage capacity is 1410 MAF. We are saving only 9.7 per cent (MAF) and the rest is wasted. In other countries the water storage capacity is 40 MAF.

The World Bank and Earth Policy Institute have warned the Government of Pakistan that it should construct dams and water reservoirs to store 22 MAF water to avoid expected disasters after 10 years. Indus River System Authority has written a letter to Secretary Power and water. It is emphasized in the letter that the Government must freeze its Public Sector Development Programmes (PSDP) and the funds of the same projects should be utilised for construction of dams and water reservoirs.

Unfortunately this letter remained on the table of the Secretary of Power and Water without paying any attention. Secretary Younas Dagha didn't even bother to know this sensitive national issue, what bigger tragedy can there be?!

According to the Earth Policy Institute in the next 10 to 40 years, the melting speed of the Himalaya glaciers will multiply and in the entire region the hardest hit country is going to be Pakistan. Melting glaciers on one hand will affect the country in the form of massive floods and on the other hand no availability of drinking water will consequently lead to an increase in the death toll. (It is to keep in mind that after Antartica and Green Land, Himalaya has the third largest reserves of Ice Mass).

It's interesting to note that in 1950 per capita water availability was 5600 cubic meter which has gone down less than 1000 cubic meters per capita water availability.

International organisations suggest that if this continues, Pakistan in the next 10 to 40 years will face irreparable loss due to water-related issues such as huge floods and lack of drinking water.

Today 80 percent of River Indus is filled with water from Himalayan glaciers and 65 percent agricultural needs are being met only by this river. At the moment Pakistan has 150 dams in total whereas in India the number is 3200.

Just imagine what would have been our condition without this river, also think if we had the ability to store flood water, our land would be producing gold instead of going barren and our industries would not be dying down because of unavailability of electricity. Industries rely on the electricity produced through water. Nawaz Government has started mega projects for generating electricity and we will get it but what will be the use of costly electricity, and for what purpose will it be used? It is a question mark! From the time that the Sharif brothers have taken Governmental affairs in their hands, their focus is on Motorway, Express Way and Metro type mega projects. It is said that a sorcerer had advised the Sharif brothers that if they want their names to be written down in history as great rulers, they should make as many roads as possible just like Sher Shah Suri, who is still known 450 years after his death . The same sorcerer told them that people go after material and ostentatious things, such as big buildings, parks and roads - if a ruler ensures sufficient availability of water, better education, timely justice, affordable edibles and everyday routine items, the masses will take him for granted. They will think of it as their fundamental rights and therefore rulers should abstain from this.

If we come to the bottom line of the Nawaz-Shahbaz Government tenures, they have done the same.To ignore the most sensitive national projects and work on lesser important things certainly does not suit a truly public representative Government. In this sense, the Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif Governments are committing heinous national crimes.