Freshwater scarcity crisis looms in Pakistan
VIENNA, Feb 10 (IPS) , 2011 (IPS) – Pakistan is still reeling from flooding that caused one of the world’s costliest natural disasters in 2010, with millions of people lacking shelter, infrastructure in ruins and donations falling short of appeals. But worse may come. The United Nations’ disaster coordination agency announced on Jan. 24 that the Pakistan floods caused damages of at least 9.5 billion dollars – the world’s third costliest natural disaster in 2010 – and killed 1,985 people – the fourth deadliest in a year of cataclysmic events. But Pakistanis will face a water challenge of a different sort in the years ahead – the possibility of dire scarcity. “There are so many other priorities that the government is facing, particularly at a national security level, and to be frank, Pakistan’s government has never really made genuine, sustainable commitments to human development and human security issues, such as guaranteeing better access to water for the masses,” says Michael Kugelman, an Asia analyst at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington. A Woodrow Wilson Center report titled Running on Empty [pdf] that Kugelman oversaw in 2009 warned that Pakistan’s water situation is “extremely precarious” and that the South Asian nation could face widespread shortages within 25 years. He said last year’s floods exposed the government’s neglect of infrastructure, including dams, “one of the big manifestations of the water management policy failures.” “I think you could argue quite conclusively that if repairs had been done in a more timely fashion or more efficaciously in the last few years, that the damage from the flood would not have been as extensive as it was,” Kugelman told IPS. … Lack of safe drinking water, stagnant pools and wrecked or non-existent wastewater disposal are creating a health threat that is magnifying flood recovery problems. The Red Cross and the South African anti-poverty group ActionAid have both warned that waterlogged and silted croplands are threatening subsistence farming and creating food shortages, and that malnourishment – particularly among children and mothers – is growing. The Red Cross reported on Jan. 21 that four million people lack adequate shelter, and contaminated water supplies in southern Pakistan are “creating breeding grounds for waterborne diseases.” …
