The most profound challenge that the country faces at this point in time can be described in a five-letter word: WATER. Unfortunately, however, our successive governments have been found to be oblivious of the fact that there are ominous dark clouds gathering overhead as far as water security of the country is concerned. Briefing the Senate’s Standing Committee on Water, Wapda chairman Muzammil Hussain has made some startling disclosures with regard to the criticality of the water challenge in the country, thus bringing this grim reality under sharper focus. Consider: India, a country of 1.25 billion people, has a water storage capacity of as many as 170 days. Pakistan, a country of about 200 million population, however, boasts a water storage capacity for only 30 days. Moreover, India has as many as 5,120 dams against Pakistan’s 155. The Wapda chairman has therefore plausibly underscored the need for narrowing the huge gap between the growing population and its needs and the number and capacity of water reservoirs. Any country that has 1,000 cubic meters per capita water availability is categorized as a water scarce country and per capita water availability in Pakistan at present is 903 cubic meters. This average per capita water availability was around 5000 cubic meters back in 1951. Pakistan’s water woes can be discerned from another fact: out of 35,409 Million Acre Feet (MAF) reservoirs in the whole world, 1,577 MAF are in South Asia and only 145 MAF in Pakistan where 25-35% of water comes from rains and 65-75% from glaciers in its northern parts. How ironic it is that Pakistan being included in 15 most water scarce countries, it has one of the most water intensive agriculture with fourth highest use of water rate. The Wapda chairman builds up a strong case of judicious distribution of water by stating that 90 percent of country’s water is used in agriculture and the need of the hour is to raise this matter at the level of Council of Common Interest with a view to working out ways and means to reduce the use of water in irrigation and increase the same for domestic needs. His proposal that cultivation of sugarcane must be discouraged for being most water consuming crop needs serious consideration.

One of the points of his talk is related to the Indus Cascade. In this regard, he points out that the Indus enters Pakistan at an altitude of 8430 feet and gives us a drop of 7030 feet till Kalabagh at an altitude of 1400 feet giving us multiple sites along the stretch for building reservoirs and run of the river projects. His remarks that around 50 percent irrigation water gets wasted, while in Punjab province the telemetry system has been broken and same is the case in Sindh constitute a sardonic comment on our approach to governance and policymaking. Ironically, we are unmindful of the fact that water storage capacity of all dams has reduced while the capacity of even Tarbella has reduced by 30 percent. For increasing water storage, we need to build more dams. In order to make a strong case for the construction of highly controversial Kalabagh Dam, the Wapda chairman has come up with a so-called creative idea. According to him, work on Kalabagh dam will not start unless consensus is developed among the provinces, and proposed if Kalabagh dam is built, then give its operational control to Sindh province to address its reservations over use of water. Senator Gianchand from Sindh was therefore forced to call the Wapda chairman’s bluff by declaring that there is no consensus on Kalabagh Dam, so it should not be discussed further.

Be that as it may, it was soon after the birth of the country that the then prime minister Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan had described water as the only reason that can trigger a bloody conflict between India and Pakistan. The challenge of availability of water has only become more formidable since. This issue has now begun to constitute a serious threat to the very survival of a country that is described as one of the top water-stressed countries in the world. The announcement of Water Policy by Sartaj Aziz-led committee in recent months is therefore a case of too little, too late. Not only are we oblivious of the impending consequences, we are also guilty of a total lack of seriousness towards the execution of the planned water projects in hand. How ironic it is that as many as 20 people have lost their lives in land disputes in the initial execution phase of Diamer-Bhasha dam project. All development projects, particularly those related to water storage, must be taken very seriously. Those from officialdom creating hurdles in execution of these projects should either be ousted or shunned as the situation brooks no complacency particularly after the country begins to suffer from grave violations of the Indus Waters Treaty by India.