ISLAMABAD: Gallup Pakistan in its study said Friday that overall availability of outdoor water sources was observed with a 4.35% decrease in water availability from protected wells followed by a decrease of 1.14% in tap water, according to Census 1998 and 2017.
The study says access to drinking water inside the house increased over time (water was available to 75.04% of Pakistan’s housing units in 1998 and 86.09% of the housing units in 2017) while it decreased for sources outside the house (water was available to 24.96% of housing units in 1998 and to 13.91% in 2017).
Sources of drinking water inside the housing units showed signs of improvement for both rural (15.02% increase) and urban areas (0.94% increase) over the last two decades while for outside water sources in both rural and urban areas, water availability deteriorated (15.02% decrease in rural areas and 0.94% decrease in urban areas).
Tap water (availability in 28.08% of the housing units in 1998 and 32.72% of the housing units in 2017) and Electric/Hand Pump (42.07% of the housing units in 1998 and 44.28% in 2017) remained the primary sources of water inside the housing units.
Availability of tap water inside the housing units improved in rural areas from 13.37% of the housing units in 1998 to 26.93% in 2017 as compared to urban areas where a decrease was witnessed from 60.22% of the housing units in 1998 to 42.22% in 2017.
Comparison with 1998 Census: Sharp decline in overall availability of outdoor water sources was observed with a 4.35% decrease in water availability from protected wells followed by a decrease of 1.14% in tap water.