ater is a treasured natural resource. It is needed for agricultural, industrial and domestic use. It is the lifeline for a developing economy.

Pakistan faces a two-dimensional hydrological challenge: water supply management and water excess management. Both remain elusive due to political instability and poor governance. The failure to supply safe drinking water to the inhabitants of megacities like Karachi and Lahore cause serious health issues highlighted by domestic and international organisations time and again. Almost every couple of years, floods cause enormous loss of human life, property and crops; subsequently, the beleaguered economy experiences nominal growth.

This year too, torrential rain in monsoon and the melting northern glaciers are feared to cause excess river flows, leading to massive floods. Taking into account the history of India’s (mis)management of excess waters due to the heavy monsoon rain, Pakistan is likely to face another challenging summer this year. The preceding year’s monsoon witnessed torrential rains, engendering catastrophic consequences for people, property and crops in Pakistan. India added to Pakistan’s injury by unleashing a deluge of 0.3 million cusecs of water into Pakistan’s rivers. The unremitting and relentless impact of the 2022 floods is not completely over, and we stand staring at another flood around the corner.

“The devastating flooding affected 33 million people in 94 districts across Pakistan, took the lives of more than 1,700 people, displaced around 7.6 million people, and resulted in the loss of critical agricultural infrastructure, standing crops, grain storage and livestock. Sindh and Balochistan provinces were the hardest hit. About 14.6 million people were in need of food security and livelihood (agriculture)-related emergency assistance.” This is how the recently released Economic Survey sums up the natural calamity, which is deemed second only to the 2010 floods.

Floods have always put great pressure on the feeble economic system. The need to manage excess water productively is greater than ever. The mounting pressure from a rapidly growing population calls for more food and safe drinking water. Regrettably, Pakistan was unable to meet the millennium development goals MDGs that required the supply of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities to half of the population by 2015.

Pakistan ranks at number 80 among 122 nations regarding drinking water quality. Drinking water sources, both surface and groundwater, get contaminated by industrial waste, sewage, wastewater etc. The environmental protection teams must identify the sources of contamination and take corrective measures to save the vulnerable communities.

The need to manage excess water productively is greater than ever. The mounting pressure from a rapidly growing population calls for more food and safe drinking water. 

Chemicals and heavy metals from industrial units have contaminated the waters of industrial cities like Faisalabad. The paper and sugar industry in Chiniot is causing contamination of groundwater in nearby rural areas. The situation is not too different in other districts, where mushroom growth of industrial units has swallowed large tracts of arable land. Industrial growth at the cost of human health is not a desirable option. All concerned should take precautionary measures.

Another worrisome phenomenon is a decline in the underground water table. According to research scholar Asad Sarwar Qureshi, “The groundwater levels in more than 50 percent of the irrigated areas of the Punjab have dropped below 6 metres, resulting in increased pumping cost and degraded groundwater quality.“ The situation calls for a focus on water conservation at all levels.

Excess water management is also imperative, keeping in view the frequency of floods and the losses those cause. Instead of leaving everything to the government, the private sector should come forward and form bodies like UK’s Flood Safe Project. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has taken the lead in saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in flood-affected areas. Capacity building at NDMA can improve its performance.

Floods cannot be stopped; however, their impact can be mitigated by taking structured and calculated measures:

a) By increasing plantations in flood-prone areas so that the flow of water can be decelerated.

b) By constructing new water reservoirs along the floodplains to store excess water that may be utilised at a later stage.

c) By building high flow diversions near the thickly populated areas to avoid loss of life and property.

d) By strengthening and raising the banks of water channels to reduce the possibility of breaches.

e) By erecting concrete walls around vulnerable villages with the help of the inhabitants.

The cost of these measures is dwarfed by losses caused by mismanaged floods.

The writer is a civil servant