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Upgrade supply of water:

It has been reported by several top environmental NGOs that the water pipes that supply water to most of the country and specially  Lahore are too old and pose several kinds of danger. For example, given their age, there is a threat of water being contaminated by elements like lead. In some areas, the metallic traces in the water are well below the safety threshold for human consumption. Further, there have been several incidents over the last decade when pipes have broken down and caused leakage of heaven knows how many thousands of gallons of water. In fact, water authorities have confessed off the record to some journalists, as reported on TV and in the press, that there are leakages everywhere that need to be plugged but the municipal corporation either does not have the resources or the will to carry out these necessary repairs.

Our water experts as well as international scientific bodies have warned that our water levels are dropping dangerously, and that Pakistan is one of the most water scarce countries in the world. The situation is likely to get worse with a rising population and increasing pressure on our urban water supplies. Therefore, it is extremely necessary for the authorities to act now and upgrade the water supply and purification systems rather than wait for the scale of this problem to exceed their capacity completely. By then, it will be too late.

A city, or indeed any settlement, cannot survive without water. Most cities, that are run well, across the world are already preparing for increased water efficiency and guarantees of supply. Further, they are managing their populations and economies in ways that ensure sustainable use of scarce resources. It is about time that our authorities also learned some lessons from the experiences of other countries and did something good for our citizens.

Moona Hamid
Karachi