The provision of clean water in major urban centres and small towns has been ignored for years. What was once the mighty River Indus, which gave birth to one of the oldest civilisation in our part of the world, is now dry and polluted. River Indus has sustained the livelihood of people in the lower Sindh region since time immemorial.
Modern-day developments have severely restricted the flow of the river in the downstream districts of Thatta and Badin and caused sea intrusion. This has resulted in over two million acres of coastal land being inundated with seawater, depriving locals of the once-fertile agricultural lands, their homes, villages, ancestral graveyards as well as their memories and remnants of the past. Dams along River Indus have provided water for new agri-land in both Punjab and Sindh. But the construction of these dams has come at a heavy cost to people in Badin and Thatta as the reduced flows of the river has disturbed ecology of these regions.
If there is a loud cry that can be heard across Sindh, it is the cry for water. Politicians know this and use it to their own advantage. In his speech at the last public meeting in Lyari in 2015, former president Asif Ali Zardari had promised to provide water to locals within six months. But even after two years, Lyari’s people have been left with false hopes.
If politics is all about local issues and concerns, then why has the issue of providing clean drinking water not been included in the political agenda of parties working in Sindh? Why does it require a civil society activist and a lawyer to seek the court’s intervention to mobilise citizens, the media, the judiciary and the government to address water woes?
The legal battle, started by the lawyer and activist Shahab Usto over a year ago, has educated many of us about the magnitude of the water crisis. But it has not urged the Sindh government and various departments to act on the recommendations of the court. The provincial government refuses to act and, in many ways, acknowledge the problem and has done little to separate irrigation channels, the sources of drinking water and watercourses from industrial waste and sewage water.
On December 6, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah appeared in the Supreme Court’s hearing on the water issues that plague the province. The court hearing was part of the constitutional petition filed by Shahab Usto last year and later in December 2016. The court ordered a commission of inquiry led by a serving judge of the Sindh High Court. The water commission, led by Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro, who produced a comprehensive 156-page inquiry report with 49 recommendations for both the provincial and federal governments to implement. In the course of inquiry, the commission visited various districts, water treatment plants, sewage projects and various sources of fresh water supply.
In many districts, the commission and lawyers were shocked to find encroachments as well as sewage water falling in the water courses. A number of district officers gave written undertakings to the visiting water commission to take practical steps to remove all sources of water pollution.
The judicial commission ordered the relevant authorities to conduct tests on the water that is being supplied to people for drinking purposes across the province. The tests revealed that 74 percent of water samples were unsafe for human consumption owing to microbiological contamination while another 23 percent of water sample in Sindh was unfit for use because its physical and aesthetic parameters – such as its turpidity, colour, odour and taste – were questionable. Around 30 percent of samples were found to be unsafe due to chemical contamination, Overall, 75 percent of water samples were unsafe whereas only 25 percent water samples were safe for human consumption.
The Sindh government, in a written statement to the commission, stated “that currently the sewage is being discharged into watery bodies – ie sea, river, canals etc – the filter plants and treatment plants are not functional and the industrial effluent is being thrown in without treatment”. On the other hand, the Sindh government also informed the water commission that “projects worth Rs110 billion are currently underway to address… problems which include [the] treatment of sewage and its safe disposal and schemes to ensure the availability of safe clean drinking water”.
Karachi, a city with a population of over 18 million people, needs estimated 1,200 million gallons of water. At present, only 650 million gallons of water are being provided and there are no plans to fill the deficit. On paper, the Karachi Water Board claims that illegal water hydrants have been closed down in the city. But when the Clifton Cantonment Board sells water to its residents, how can we blame the private mafia if we see water tankers on every road of the city?
The report also mentioned that the “the Indus Delta receives pollutants from [the] up-country’s use of pesticides, fertilisers and industries”, which is beyond the control of the provincial government. Unless the federal government presses the Punjab government to stop throwing their waste into Sindh, things will not change.
Petitioner Shahab Usto wants the Supreme Court to continue the water commission for the next five years so that it can oversee the implementation of its recommendations and the actions of the district government. It seems to be the only way to hold bureaucracy and the rulers accountable.
The water commission’s visits have exposed the activities of many sugar mills in Badin and Thatta where their effluent obstructed the water’s courses, polluting drinking water and becoming the source of waterborne diseases. Industrial waste that falls into irrigation channels has adversely affected agriculture fertility.
An inquiry on water revealed that “there is no credible mechanism of water testing established by [the] Sindh government and, therefore, there [is] no authentic lab data to indicate… [the] nature of water being consumed by us”.
The commission’s report should be tabled at the Sindh Assembly to enable its members to formulate policies to save people’s lives. The water commission’s report offers the government and various stakeholders a concrete profile on the nature of water and sewage treatment in Sindh – a task that should have been fulfilled by the provincial departments. For example, it is up to citizens and politicians of Hyderabad how they struggle to meet the 50 percent of the water shortage that the city is currently facing and resume the operation of a water filtration plant on Jamshoro Road, which has been non-functional for the past seven years.
The report is a reflection on how we have destroyed our institutional arrangements by depriving them of financial resources and the much-needed technological advancements. The gaps, deficits and inefficiencies reveal how Sindh is poorly governed.
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