Water woes

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

WATER is a touchy subject in Pakistan, and understandably so. A largely agrarian economy such as ours is highly dependent on predictable flows but this is not always possible. Nationalists in Sindh accuse Punjab of deliberately starving the lower riparian of water, while some otherwise informed inhabitants of Punjab hold to this day that discharges into the Arabian Sea amount to a waste of a precious resource. We need to get away from these conspiracy theories and work together, for the collective good of the country. Pakistan is already categorised as a water-stressed nation and is, in fact, hovering around the water-starved level. The vagaries of climate change and the burden of a burgeoning population will only add to our troubles. Consider this: Pakistan’s per capita availability of water stood at 5,300 cubic metres per person in 1951. By 2006 this figure had fallen to 1,105 cubic metres. The situation today is probably even more dire.

The Ravi now is little more than a sewage drain in its incarnation near Lahore. Downstream of Kotri, the once mighty Indus, the river Sindhu, has been so choked by dams that cattle wander along its beds. Agriculture in Sindh has taken a huge hit due to water scarcity and riverine fishermen have suffered too. Even more troubling perhaps is the problem of sea intrusion. The Indus was historically strong enough to push back the sea but that is no longer the case. Estimates vary, depending on the political affiliations of those producing the figures, but the sum total is staggering by any count. Unbiased observers believe that at least two million acres of arable land has been devoured in Sindh by sea intrusion over the last 20 years. Crops, homes and livelihoods have been lost, and extra pressure exerted on urban infrastructures. Human dignity is also a victim. Farmers and herders, who once had their own land and animals, are now being forced to clean shrimp for a pittance in Karachi’s outlying fishing communities.

Sunday marked the International Day of Action for Rivers. The nationalists were out in force, as expected, but conspicuous by their absence were those whose voices could be called tempered. Our inter-provincial disputes must now give way to a more informed discourse on India’s illegal water appropriation in Indian-administered Kashmir. We must also say goodbye to our profligate ways. Agriculture accounts for nearly 97 per cent of all water usage in Pakistan, and everyone knows that we waste this resource every single day. Canal lining and land-levelling projects are behind schedule and there has been little or no government support for modern irrigation systems. The problem doesn’t end there. Pesticide-ridden run-off from overly watered farms is polluting waterways and natural aquifers. Water can no longer be taken for granted and integrated management is the need of the hour.