Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has warned that the country may run dry by 2025 if the authorities did not take an immediate action. The looming water crisis deserves the immediate attention of the government. Groundwater supplies are depleting at 16-55 centimetres (6-21 inches) a year, according to a study carried out by the International Waterlogging and Salinity Research Institute (IWASRI), part of WAPDA. The study says about 145 million acre feet of water flows through Pakistan each year, but the country’s existing storage capacity is only 14 million acre feet, meaning it can only store enough water to last 30 days. The international standard is 120 days. The water shortage is forcing many farmers in Punjab and some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to abandon cultivation due to the high fuel cost of watering their land. This is an alarming situation for Pakistan, where more than 50 percent of the population is food insecure.
There are certain factors responsible for the crisis. After the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960 by India and Pakistan, the rights over the eastern and western rivers were divided between both countries. According to the Treaty, the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej were allocated to India. Similarly, Pakistan was given the western rivers, Jhelum, Chenab and Indus. Due to controversies over the building of the Kalabagh Dam on the River Indus, the government has turned to the construction of the Bhasha-Diamer Dam, which too is not entirely free of disputes between upper and lower riparian provinces. Securing funding is not an easy task for such a big project due to its effects on the environment and high cost.
