Pakistan on Brink of Immense Water Disaster

The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has warned that the country may run dry by 2025 if the authorities didn’t take an immediate action.

According to a yet-to-be-released report, parts of which have been made available to the media, Pakistan touched the “water stress line” in 1990 and crossed the “water scarcity line” in 2005.

If this situation persists, Pakistan is likely to face acute water shortage or drought-like situation in the near future. PCRWR is affiliated with Ministry of Science and Technology.

The association says there is a critical need to do explore at different levels to discover an answer for the emergency.

“Lamentably, the PCRWR has no assets to guarantee supportable research,” said a service official. Islamabad-based Irfan Chowdhry affirms the report’s discoveries and says that Pakistan is very near to an immense disaster.

Pakistan has the world’s fourth most elevated rate of water utilisation. Its water force rate – the measure of water, in cubic meters, utilised per unit of GDP – is the world’s highest. This proposes no nation’s economy is more water-serious than Pakistan’s.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Pakistan is already the third most water-stressed country in the world. Its per capita annual water availability is 1,017 cubic meters – perilously close to the scarcity threshold of 1,000 cubic meters. Back in 2009, Pakistan’s water availability was about 1,500 cubic meters.

Experts say that population growth and urbanisation are the main reasons behind the crisis. The issue has also been exacerbated by climate change, poor water management, and a lack of political will to deal with the crisis.

Source: Pakistan Observer

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Taxonomy

• Water Scarcity
• Resource Management
• Water Access
• Governance & Policy
• Drought
• Water Supply
• Water Management