ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): The water shortage in Pakistan has reached an alarming stage, as the latest Asian Water Development Outlook by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) revealed that over 80 percent of Pakistanis still lack access to clean drinking water.
According to the report, despite minor improvements in the last decade, the country remains trapped in deep water insecurity driven by climate stress, mismanagement, and rapid population growth.
The ADB report pinpoints that the quality and quantity of water in Pakistan have sharply deteriorated. Population pressure, erratic monsoons, glacial melt, floods, and poor governance have overburdened the country’s water system, which was already fragile.
The assessment noted that over-extraction of groundwater, mainly because of agricultural overuse, has caused widespread contamination, including arsenic poisoning in various districts.
Per capita water availability fell drastically from 3,500 cubic meters in 1972 to only 1,100 cubic meters in 2020, thus pushing the country dangerously close to absolute water scarcity.
Rural communities remain the most vulnerable, with ineffective supply models, contamination, and weak surveillance putting millions at risk of waterborne diseases. Improvement has been recorded due to targeted WASH programming, along with hygiene campaigns during the COVID era, but service delivery remains inconsistent.
