KARACHI:Water shortage hits hard Pakistan’s mega city Karachi as 40 percent water in Karachi is being stolen and leaked. A family spends Rs13,000 on water per month in Baldia town. Pakistan’s water demand would increase 30 percent by 2025, according to an investigative report conducted by senior journalist M Nawaz Khuhro with the theme “Water shortage hits hard Pakistan’s mega city Karachi and agriculture sector”.
Water shortage is badly affecting Pakistan’s economic hub and agriculture sector. The agriculture sector contributes 18.9 percent to the country’s economy, whereas Karachi adds 62 percent revenue to national exchequer. Twenty million people in Pakistan still have no choice but to drink contaminated water due to the ignorance of the successive governments.
“A1000 gallons brackish water tanker costs Rs2,200 to Rs2,500 in Saeedabad locality of Baldia town, but the contaminated water cannot be used for drinking. Every month, my family spends Rs13,000 on water, including Rs3,000 for mineral water bottles, which is a huge financial burden on us,” said Mukhtiar who gets tab water after every six months.
The district West areas of Karachi, Baldia and Orangi Towns, are facing acute water shortage because the water level at Hub Dam has gone down to its deepest, whereas 40 percent water in Karachi is being stolen and leaked, informed Tahir Qureshi, a consultant at International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Karachi is also getting low water supply from the pumping stations due to non-desilting of water channel from Keenjhar Lake, the primary source of water supply to the city. Qureshi suggested: “To overcome water scarcity in Karachi, the government should replace damaged and punctured lines, install more Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants and use sea water for toilets. The government also needs to work on water management system in the city to overcome water shortage in the metropolis.” The contaminated tanker water is not good for skin and hair as it is causing different allergies, he added.
Shahid Farooq, a resident of same locality, said that there is only one water hydrant of KWSB in Baldia town. “A government RO plant in our locality sells a 1000-gallon water for Rs1200. This water is drinkable but can be received after a break of 10 days. Getting this water tanker is a very cumbersome task due to waiting in lines for hours amid huge rush and heat-wave. But if you pay Rs600 tip to any agent, then this tanker can be got some easily,” Farooq added.
Despite passage of more than 10 years, not a single drop of water is supplemented in the water supply of Karachi, which shows negligence of relevant authorities. An allocation of 260 million gallons daily (MGD) water was allowed only for Phase-I of K-IV Project but its completion is still a dream come true. When the K-IV project was announced, the estimated cost was Rs15255 million and the first phase was supposed to complete in 2018, but now the project deadline has been extended to 2021. This will ultimately increase the project cost, and the new cost is yet to be evaluated.
KWSB spokesman Rizwan Hyder said, “It is difficult to provide accurate cost of the project because the work on several components of K-IV project is still underway while PC-I of some other parts is in the process of approval and can only be ascertained after getting the nod on them.”
Few months back former Karachi Nazim Mustafa Kamal told Supreme Court that Karachi will continue facing serious water problems even after the completion of K-IV water project due to non-allocation of a fresh water quota to the country’s commercial hub.
“A major reason for the current water crisis is lack of adequate allocations in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the water resource. As a result, according to a National Water Policy 2018 report, there has been virtually no increase in the total cropped area of 55 million acres during past two decades,” The report further adds that Federal PSDP allocated only Rs36.and5 billion for the water sector in FY201and-18, which is low comparing to the past.
According to 2012 report of Climate Change Policy, the projected recession of the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayan (HKH) glaciers due to global warming and carbon soot deposits from trans-boundary pollution sources are a threat for water inflows into the Indus River System. Water resources are inextricably linked with climate; this is why the projected climate change has such serious implications for Pakistan’s water resources.
Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) says in a report that the total demand for the city of 22 million people is 1188 MGD. “The major water sources for Karachi are Indus River with 550 MGD capacity and Hub Dam with 100 MGD capacity. The city loses 35 percent of water supply due to leakage and pilferage.”
During investigation, it has been found that the average water supply from Indus River has come down to 450 MGD, whereas Hub Dam supply has dropped to 30-50 MGD. Thus, the city faces 638 MDG of water shortage. Experts believe that the government needs to provide drinking water immediately to save citizens from torments of salty water, water-borne diseases and extra water expenditures in this price hike era. There is need to ensure proper water distribution system in the metropolis by installing new pipelines and removing old ones, besides taking actions against water theft.
The water sources of Karachi are Keenjhar Lake and Hub Dam. There is a dire need to raise special water share for the city from Indus River. The fact of matter is people from across Pakistan are living here for various purposes including business and labour work. The Sindh government had also appealed to the federal government to raise water share of Karachi from Indus River as the city provides water to people of all other provinces.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan formed a Water Commission to investigate the quality of water being supplied to the residents of Karachi and other parts of Sindh besides examining the deteriorating condition of sanitation in the province. The commission was also tasked to examine the statutory role played by Sindh Environmental Protection Agency on the issues mandated by Sindh Environmental Protection Act, 2014.
The Water Commission Report said that Karachi is not being provided clean water as a result causing several water-borne diseases among the citizens.
Dr Qutubbudin Khuhro, Assistant Professor at Dow University of Health Sciences Karachi said in an interview that water-borne diseases are Typhoid, Cholera, Hepatitis AandE, Dysentery, Naegleria fowleri, Polio and Guinea Worm. “Typhoid, Naegleria fowleri and Cholera can cause death if not cured timely,” he warned. Dr Khuhru believes that that provision of safe drinking water is a primary source for a healthy body. Around 45 percent cases of infant and child mortality in Pakistan are due to the result of water-borne diseases. Moreover, the diseases are also a major reason of highest death ratio in Pakistan.
“Water being supplied to people in Karachi is not fit for direct consumption, therefore, it should be boiled and then filtered before drinking,” he advised.
Experts are of the opinion that federal and provincial governments need to device a joint mechanism to counter water crisis in the country for prosperous and healthy upcoming generation. The Water Commission report indicates that the authorities have individually and collectively failed to discharge such constitutional duty in Karachi where not a single treatment plant for wastewater exist.
However, KWSB sanctioned 19 Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants in Karachi. A private company Pak Oasis obtained the tender and installed those 19 RO plants with a total cost of Rs5,and6and.684 million. The six plants were installed in Lyari at the cost of Rs2,360.169 million and 13 in Keamari Town at the cost of Rs340and.515 million. Out of 19 RO plants, two are non-functional. The Sindh local government department has been paying their operation and maintenance cost to Pak Oasis through KWSB. The water quality of these RO plants is also not being checked to meet WHO standards.
The President of National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH), Muhammad Naeem Qureshi, said in an interview that the city’s sky-rocketing rise in the population had put heavy burden on water resources of the city; therefore, the federal government should increase Karachi water share from the Indus River. “Water being provided by KWSB is not drinkable as whole city faces water shortage. The worst water shortage-hit city areas are Clifton, Defence, Baldia, Orangi, Lyari, Shershah, North Karachi, and Federal B Area. The water shortage puts economic burden on the people and prime example are the residents of Defence and Clifton who pay Rsand0 billion per month on water tanker,” according to NFEH survey.
Out of an average 104 MAF of river flows diverted to canal irrigation, about 44.25 MAF is lost in conveyance and only 59.and5 MAF reaches the farm head. Another 15.0 MAF is lost in field applications, leaving 44.and5 MAF of canal water available for crop consumptive requirement.
The government needs to install more tube-wells and drip irrigation systems to overcome water shortage. A large percentage of tube wells in Pakistan can be converted to solar energy, especially in areas where water table is not very low, so as to provide additional water at lower cost.
Mohammad Saleem, Deputy Director at Ministry of Climate Change said in an interview that Pakistan’s water demand would increase 30 percent by 2025, particularly due to rise in population to over 250 million at that time. “This future water demand scenario calls for construction of more water reservoirs of varying sizes, check dams, floodwater storage dams, rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharging reservoirs and deployment of water efficient technologies for enhancing the irrigation efficacies,” Shaikh said.
He said, “The annual availability of water for a person is 1,01and cubic meters, but Pakistan is fast closing at 1,000 cubic meters, which indicates the country is water scarce. The country has already crossed the ‘water scarcity line’ way back in 2005 after having crossed the ‘water stress line’ in 1990.”
Shaikh, a climate specialist as well, said, “Pakistan’s water storage capacity is just for 30 days (and percent of its annual river water flows) against the minimum requirement of 120 days while most of the developed countries have 1-2 years water storage capability. When comparing the water storage capacity of the country with that of the developing countries, India has water storage capacity for 1and0-200 days and Egypt 1000 days.” “At the time of the country’s independence, Pakistan’s per capita water availability stood more than 0.5 million litres per year, which has declined more than five times to below 0.1m litres. This has coincided with five-fold rise in population since 194and.”
The Sindh Budget 2018-19 document states that the provincial government has conceived a desalination plant through public private partnership for enhancing KWSB’s water distribution network capacity.