A child drinking water from the tap. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
Only 47 percent of Pakistanis have access to clean water, experts warned at a seminar organized by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) in Islamabad, highlighting the country’s deepening water quality crisis and its serious implications for public health, productivity and sustainable development.
Speaking at the event ‘Thirst for Security: Water Quality and Public Health in Pakistan’, Dr Hifza Rasheed, Director General (Water Quality) of Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), revealed that Pakistan’s per capita freshwater availability has fallen from 5,260 cubic meters in 1951 to less than 1,000 cubic meters in 2024, placing it among the water-scarce countries. water.
Dr Rasheed and Dr Shujaat Farooq, Dean (Research), PIDE, underlined that contaminated water contributes to nearly 40 per cent of diseases across the country and urged urgent, coordinated and climate-resilient reforms to safeguard Pakistan’s water future.
The session brought together experts, researchers and students to discuss the country’s deepening water quality crisis and its implications for health, productivity and sustainable development.
Inaugurating the seminar, Dr Farooq noted that despite Pakistan’s abundant natural resources, pollution, over-extraction and institutional fragmentation have made water insecurity one of the country’s most pressing public health challenges.
Citing UNICEF data, he said nearly 70% of households consume contaminated water and that 30% to 40% of diseases (including diarrhea, hepatitis and typhoid) result from contaminated water. “The challenge,” he emphasized, “is not only shortages but also weak coordination and management.”
Presenting a national overview, Dr. Rasheed revealed that per capita freshwater availability in Pakistan has fallen from 5,260 m³ in 1951 to less than 1,000 m³ in 2024, putting the country in the water scarcity category.
Agriculture uses about 93% of total freshwater, but irrigation efficiency remains less than 40%. In Punjab alone, more than 1.3 million tubewells extract approximately 50 million acre-feet of groundwater every year, causing severe depletion.
PCRWR data indicates that only 47% of Pakistan’s population currently has access to safe drinking water, a modest improvement from 39% in 2022, but still far from the SDG 6.1 target of universal access by 2030.
It warned that contaminated water causes approximately 53,000 child deaths a year and contributes to high rates of stunting that affect 44% of children nationwide. Industrial effluents, pesticides and untreated sewage are the main pollutants, with arsenic pollution being severe in southern Punjab and Sindh. Only 38% of wastewater is treated before discharge.
Highlighting climate risks, Dr. Rasheed noted that Pakistan ranks fifth among the world’s most water-insecure nations. The 2025 floods caused $14.9 billion in damage, worsening pollution and disease.
