The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources says the country, once having surplus water, now has a water deficit. The main reasons for the declining water availability are rapid population growth, the fast expanding number of industries and businesses and depleting water storage facilities.
Of the total 147m acre-feet water that flows through Pakistani territory, the country stores only 14.5m acre-feet water and the remaining flows into sea.
Water distribution by utilities in the cities and towns is inadequate and in many places water contaminated. Underground water in many areas is brackish, contaminated or contains excessive traces of arsenic or other such minerals.
Sindh and Punjab are installing reverse osmosis (RO) plants at selected locations to provide clean water to the people. But many water supply and drainage schemes in rural Sindh started around 2008 for completion by 2011, remained incomplete and non-operational, due to non-release of funds, change of project managers or due to lack of electricity connections.
Operational RO plants are also exposed to load shedding and occasional breakdowns. Installing solar-based RO plants may improve the situation but it may take time. Implementation delays of water and sanitation projects are widespread in the country.
Water utilities in various cities subject raw water to normal chlorination process but the water is often not fully safe for drinking purposes. Chris-crossing of water lines with leaking sanitation channels adversely affects water quality. Due to poor quality of drinking water, RO plants are also in demand even for certain areas of large cities as Karachi and Lahore.
It is feared that the financing and installation of treatment plants may take years and the poor people will continue to suffer contaminated water.
