The energy crisis is now on
everyone’s mind. It didn’t just show up out of the blue this summer; it has been
growing, steadily, over the past decade. Inability to take decisive action, more
than anything, is what has brought us to this stage. Even today, nothing by way
of structural reform is taking place in the energy sector. Everyone eagerly
awaits to see what the next government plans to unveil to tackle this issue. The
only other issue that has the potential of dwarfing the energy crisis is a water
crisis. How long can we wait, ignoring the symptoms of deep malaise in the
domestic water supply and sanitation sector, until the water crisis is too
endemic?
Cities and settlements across Pakistan are increasingly facing water quality and
sanitation challenges. The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, in
its 2007 report on the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme, found unsafe
drinking water in, at least, one water source tested in each of the 23 major
cities it surveyed (none of the water tested in Bahalwapur, Kasur, Multan,
Lahore, Sheikhupura and Ziarat was found safe). Access to clean drinking water
is a fundamental right recognised by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
There are numerous challenges to the provision of clean drinking water and
sanitation in cities. Aging infrastructure (old water and sewage pipes often
leak, mixing with one another) is a familiar challenge. So is the recognised
need to metre and measure water consumption. Both underpin the importance of
properly measuring and charging for water consumption. However, rapid
urbanisation, overuse and climate change are posing new challenges and require
focused coordination between provincial and local governments.
Cities in Pakistan get their drinking water from several sources. Man-made
reservoirs, like Rawal Lake that supplies Islamabad and Rawalpindi with water,
are one. So is mining the aquifer, as is done in Lahore. Many settlements rely
on groundwater drawn from tube-wells and many others on surface water resources
such as canals.
Rapid urbanisation has increased the built environment, increasing surface water
run-off and reducing the quality of recharge. Recharge of the aquifer is
complicated by increased run-off as it is often mixed with chemicals and other
pollutants in the catchment. The aquifer itself is under stress. There is no
real understanding of the rate at which our cities and settlements are consuming
groundwater; there is little appreciation that overconsumption could deplete
existing groundwater resources. There is little concern for how polluted
recharge could affect every one of us.
The need to act is immediate. Other than the immeasurable cost of human lives,
as a result of impure drinking water, the cost associated with poor sanitation
is estimated to be 3.8 per cent of GPD (think of the loss of earnings due to
time spent away from work; the fact that half the hospital beds in Pakistan
today are filled by patients suffering from water-borne ailments; the cost of
building and maintaining medical infrastructure; training and paying for doctors
and subsidising medicines). And we are recklessly consuming a finite resource.
There is little we can expect by way of ‘development’ if such costs continue
unaddressed. I should add that the water quality and sanitation situation in
rural areas is no better. The further downstream one travels, water-ailments
become epidemic.
Cities need to immediately change how they approach the idea of water supply. At
the moment, those charged with water and sanitation are concerned about covering
their operating costs and are constantly engaged in a cycle of
build-neglect-repair. The predominant thinking is that higher user charges and
metered connections will solve our problems. While these concerns are valid,
they are not the only ones water and sanitation providers should have in mind.
Cities need to secure their water supplies by better understanding their
catchments and diversifying their water resources. They need to think beyond
capturing rainfall runoff, building water reservoirs and foresting catchments.
Alternative sources for cities and settlements include groundwater, urban storm
water, rainwater (roof run-off) and recycled wastewater.
Cities need to change the very manner in which they approach water supply. Our
cities focus on large and centralised infrastructure. In Lahore, for example,
the thinking is that the city needs one or two waste-treatment plants. These
plants are to be so big that the government has spent decades negotiating with
foreign donors. And while the negotiations continue, the city continues to
discharge all of its untreated domestic and industrial waste into the River
Ravi. Lahore needs to start thinking of decentralised integrated solutions.
There is no other way of diversifying water resources.
Steps need to be taken immediately; else the worst-case scenario might become a
reality: we will begin to run out of potable water. Unlike electricity, water
cannot be ‘produced’; it is a finite resource. Without water, there can be no
life. No other issue in Pakistan is this important.