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Where Is The Water

Pakistan faces a severe water crisis, with estimates that there will be little clean water available by 2025 without action. Approximately 50% of Pakistan's water resources are lost before reaching fields, due to leaks and an outdated irrigation system. Additionally, outdated agricultural practices like flood irrigation waste much of the 50% of water that does reach fields. Daily routines also waste significant amounts of water, like using 400 gallons to wash a car. Without improvements to infrastructure, adoption of new techniques, and better water governance, Pakistan's current water shortages will become more dire.

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49 views2 pages

Where Is The Water

Pakistan faces a severe water crisis, with estimates that there will be little clean water available by 2025 without action. Approximately 50% of Pakistan's water resources are lost before reaching fields, due to leaks and an outdated irrigation system. Additionally, outdated agricultural practices like flood irrigation waste much of the 50% of water that does reach fields. Daily routines also waste significant amounts of water, like using 400 gallons to wash a car. Without improvements to infrastructure, adoption of new techniques, and better water governance, Pakistan's current water shortages will become more dire.

Uploaded by

Tuba Abrar
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Where is the Water?

As the world fights climate change and the rigors of water stress and scarcity, academics, government,
and industry giants working in Pakistan are talking about the water wastage and losses within the
agricultural economy's irrigation systems. They remind that according to the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) reports, Pakistan uses 90 percent of its water resources for the purpose of agriculture, and of
that, 50 percent is lost. The causes of the losses are seepage in canals, misuse, percolation, and other
defects in the irrigation and distribution system.

Field experts also claim the losses occur due to poor agronomics adopted by local farmers, especially
small farmers, who in some cases are not even aware of the advantages of using furrows.

In May 2018, the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) came up with a somewhat
startling revelation that Pakistan is faced with a severe water crisis and it is estimated that there will be
very little or no clean water available by 2025 if tangible short-term as well as comprehensive long-term
measures are not taken.

Similarly, the IMF has warned that Pakistan is ranked third among countries facing water scarcity. It is a
precarious situation as the per capita water availability in the 1950s was approximately 5,000 cubic
metres per year, which has now declined to below 1,000 cubic metres per year. This is an internationally
recognised threshold of water shortage.

The country is an outdated agricultural economy, with an efficiency rate of a just over 50 percent. For
instance, out of the country’s fresh water resources, a colossal over 90 percent is consumed by the
agricultural sector. According to some estimates, about half of this precious water is wasted even before
it reaches the fields due to massive leakages in the feeble water-transportation infrastructure.

For example, about 100 million acre-feet of water (maf) enters the canal system where 40 million acre-
feet (maf) doesn’t reach the farm gate. The water volume wasted approximately amounts to the storage
capacity of five Kalabagh dams. While there will always be demands for dams, which are, of course,
necessary in its own place, there is a greater need to minimise the leakages and wastage of water
caused by dilapidated water-supply infrastructure as well as its unregulated free-of-cost extravagant
usage. And as for the remaining 50 percent of water that actually reaches fields, much of it is virtually
wasted by outdated practices in agriculture, such as flood irrigation

Apart from enormous wastage in the agricultural sector, a huge amount of water is wasted in our
unrestrained daily routine. For example, some estimates suggest that an average of 400 gallons of fresh
water is used to wash a car, over 10 gallons is wasted during a shower, and about four gallons while we
brush our teeth. While brushing their teeth, most people rarely turn off the tap. As a result, a
considerable amount of water is wasted.

All these are substantial statistics for a country of over 210 million people with relatively meagre natural
resources, including water. The situation looks all the more grave as we are aware that most of the
water consumed at household levels is primarily groundwater, which is considered to be a last resort if
the country runs out of water. Loosely regulated and ineffective water governance coupled with our
resistance to adopt latest technology, techniques and practices are some of the principal factors
responsible for the current situation.

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