The Nation’s Destiny Writ on Water
By Tariq Masood Malik

ENSURING environmental sustainability is goal #7 of Millennium Development Goals; in it target 10 states, “Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people with out sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation”. It also promises to ‘stop the unsustainable exploitation of water resources by developing water management strategies…….which promote both equitable access and adequate supplies’.

When seen through the prism of facts the above-stated goal seems not only unrealistic but it thwarts the rest of the goals set by the UN in Millennium Development goals. The idea behind stating the figures is not to stuff the minds with hard facts but to create awareness about, a taken for granted natural resource. Water, once an abundant shared natural source, is now experiencing scarcity of alarming proportions.

This, despite being an important determinant of health, never has caught the attention of the relevant authorities in the developing world in particular and the result is the staggering facts and figures revealed by various national and international studies. According to a WHO report of 2002, 3.4 million people, mostly children, die annually from water borne diseases. World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002 states that 1.1 billion people lack access to improved water sources.

According to Pakistan National Conservation Strategy (1992) about 40 per cent of communicable diseases like infectious hepatitis, gastroenteritis, diarrhea, typhoid giardiasis, intestinal worms, trachoma and scabies, in Pakistan are water borne and 30 to 40 per cent of the population (served through piped water) is deprived of safety measures. These are just the early shock waves of a huge impending humanitarian crisis.

The future scenario is bleaker than the present one; rapid population growth, drastic climatic changes, increasing pollution and sewage production will further enhance the rate of water pollution and depletion. This is high time that this silent humanitarian crisis was prioritized and given immediate attention before the hawks consider the weapons of mass destructions, a redundant phenomenon for sweeping generations off the face of earth.

The water, fit for human consumption, is just 1 per cent of the earth’s total water available in oceans, rivers, lakes, icecaps, glaciers and of the under ground water. In Pakistan’s case, this consumable water is mostly bacteriologically and feacally contaminated and disease-burdened hence undrinkable. The issue is nowhere on the government’s agenda.

There are no testing laboratories capable of carrying out water tests involving all parameters. There is no uniform application of PSQCA (Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority) standards in the country. There are PSQCA standards (PS-1932-2002) for piped water and PSQCA standards (PS-4639-2002) for bottled water.

The PSQCA standards for piped water are voluntary whereas the PSQCA standards for bottled water are mandatory in nature, while the need is that the standards for both kinds of water should be mandatory. The local government ordinance makes the local bodies responsible for providing “wholesome” water to consumers. The term “wholesome” is evasive enough to absolve the local representatives of their responsibility of providing enough safe drinking water to consumers at affordable cost.

The cause and effect theory applies in this case as well. In order to address the problem, there should be a clear understanding of its causes. This realization is lacking Even a leading English daily of the country published an editorial on 5th May on Water crisis and showed blatant indifference to the quality of drinking water. If opinion formers still do not consider it worth mentioning then the ordinary consumer can be excused for his not knowing the venom he is slipping down his throat.

I still am unable to understand that despite occasional occurrences of news on water related diseases and the resulting deaths in the country especially in Sindh, and the periodic release of reports on the quality of bottled water by Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, people still buy contaminated bottled water.

According to a survey conducted by PCRWR on bottled water in 2003-2004, 54 per cent of the brands available in the market were unfit for human consumption. This clearly shows that the level of awareness among the people is not enough to send the alarm signals across the country.

The opinion leaders including media are to play a lead role in raising awareness on this critical issue. I see the right use of formal education if it imparts life leading skills in the students instead of simply catering to that part of the brain which deals with memory.

Hygiene education, in this regard, will help people understand the importance of clean drinking water and sanitation My innocent country men consider the constitution of Pakistan a sacred book which is shelved in the government’s offices like a religious scripture.

Article 9 of the constitution of Pakistan ensures every citizen’s right to life. By not providing safe drinkable water the state deprives them of their right to life. No one has ever given it a serious thought of making it a compulsory subject which again would help them lead an enlightened life. Imagine, if they know their right to life and the impediments in achieving that right ,who would stop them from getting that.

Population explosion is another reason for deteriorating water quality and decreasing quantity, which again is due to ignorance. People do not see the relation between population increase and water crisis. There is a growing gap between the demand and supply of water. The existing drinkable water is just 1 per cent of the total water on this planet.

With little knowledge about the water conservation phenomenon, water is becoming in the 21st century what the oil was to the 20 century. Rational use of water while shaving, taking shower, brushing teeth etc, water harvesting and water treatment are completely alien concepts to us. According to the United Nations, more than 1 billion people on Earth already lack access to fresh drinking water.

If the current trend persists, by 2025 the demand for fresh water is expected to rise by 56 percent more than is currently available. World Bank official Christopher Ward observed, "Groundwater is being mined at such a rate that parts of the rural economy could disappear within a generation." Fortune magazine predicts that “water is about to become one of the world’s greatest business opportunities.


Poor Budget allocation, sloppy governance and ageing infrastructure are some of the other reasons .We see many leaking spots where water gushes out of pipes to form a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other pathogenic bacteria and goes unheeded for months When the intermittent supply ends the same leaking spots become suction points and suck all the contamination in to the pipe line.

The water reservoirs are not cleaned periodically: one example is of Kali Tanky, a water reservoir in Rawalpindi; it was never cleaned in its 77 years history till a civil society organization brought it to the notice of the authorities concerned and made them do the needful. The ground and surface water sources are not regularly chlorinated. The staff at the water sources is not trained and skilled to run the sources amicably.

The industrial waste and overuse of fertilizers and insecticides on crops is another source of water pollution and goes unnoticed. Proactive approach demands that we invest more in building a reliable and sustainable infrastructure for an efficient water supply and in return get better health standards and accelerated growth rate.

According to a UN report, 1 Dollar invested in water and sanitation can result in accelerated growth and reduced mortality and morbidity rate& better health. While one dollar spent on a bullet can end up ending life of an individual with no rise in development indicators.

Privatizing the water sources is a new slogan which is being raised these days in our country. Many developed and developing countries have experienced this but the results are not encouraging We can work out other options like improving governance, building infrastructure, investing more in water service delivery than to privatize the sources.

Privatizing the water supply service to some foreign, for profit interests, in order to increase the efficiency instead of addressing the governance loopholes is not a good solution. International Financial institutions under structural adjustment programs compel the local governments to privatize assets in order to pay back the loans. The day is not for when we will be asked to privatize our water sources to settle our ever increasing debt burden.

The privatization experience in the developed countries like UK has failed and has resulted in price rise, disconnections due to non payments and increased dysentery. Bechtel, a leading water services provider, has experimented in Bolivia and Philippines and failed; agitations took place in Bolivia and compelled the government to reverse the decision.

Now the company threatens to sue the Bolivian government for breach of contract. Another multinational company, Vivendi‘s network is of 110 million in over 100 countries. This is highly undemocratic on the part of WB and IFIs’ to take decisions on the part of the rest. A news item dated April 14, 2005 tells that Punjab govt thinks of privatizing the WASA .Privatization experience in other countries has failed. If privatization continues to grow it will thwart the achievements of MDGs.

This is no small task and needs integrated approach and concerted efforts from the public, civil society organization and government. Public participation in water resource management is key to solving the issue along side creating public awareness. A mobilized, educated and organized consumer can be instrumental in putting pressure on the government representatives to formulate consumer friendly policies which in turn ensure cost effective clean drinking water supply.

National drinking water policy is the need of the hour. The policy should ensure that some body preferably local bodies’ representatives, who know the local conditions better, is responsible for providing safe drinking water to the consumers. it should also ensure that minimal mandatory standards are applied to both bottled and piped water.

Social responsibility needs to be inculcated in the minds of the consumers. They ought to be told that water is a rapidly depleting source. It needs to be conserved and freed from pollution and contamination. The industrialists recycle waste water for the industrial use instead of using consumable water and turning it into waste. Water pilferage goes unaccountable. It is such a golden principle that less we use water less we spend on waster water recycling and sanitation. Water valuation inspires conservation; appropriate water tariffs are necessary to maintain the existing infrastructure and to develop it further.

Water billing is not rationally and evenly charged in the country: some households are charged flat rates. Some connections are metered other are not. Water tariffs, if charged rationally can make people value this resource. The revenue earned from this source can be spent on developing the water supply infrastructure, treatments plants and recycle units.

A rational Bill takes into account the cost of all the services required to make the water from lakes or aquifers safe to drink, supply it to people's homes, and then collect and treat the wastewater before releasing the water back to nature. The determining factors for water tariffs are: How the water and wastewater is treated, the network maintenance and the type of services provided to consumers. If these things are taken into account then fair charges would not hurt the users and it would encourage rational use of water.

All this needs to be streamlined and this require a strong political will and commitment on the part of the government and consumers. There is a sheer lack of political will on the part of government and the budget allocations for other sectors far exceeds the allocation for water. It would highly be appreciable if our parliament take this issue up and decide upon the immediate threat that our nation faces today .If the current rate of water borne and water related diseases tell it is water, then the major chunk of budget, hitherto earmarked for defense, should go to water sector.

People say the future wars would be on ownership water. I say there would be few able bodied surviving individuals to fight for. “Around 6,000 children die every day from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. At any one time approximately half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases.

In the past 10 years diarrhea has killed more children than all the people lost to armed conflict since World War II. In 1998, 308,000 people died from war in Africa, but more than two million (six times as many) died of diarrheal disease”, reveals a report. If water continues to take toll at this rate then who would live to fight and what for? The Network for Consumer Protection Islamabad. Ph: 051-2261085, 051-2211945 E-mail: prempatr@hotmail.com●

© 2005 Tariq Masood Malik