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Water is a basic need and an important element for survival, water is also an essential source for all

economical activities and functions in both urban as well rural sides. You can say that where there is
life there must be availability sufficient amount of drinkable water failing to which life may face
serious problems and survival will be impossible, No doubt the earth’s surface have 70% of water,
but unfortunately a very little amount of which is available for drinking and usage of other important
socioeconomic activities whereas one 3rd of the world’s population is now facing some kind of
physical or economic water scarcity. A growing need for water from different sectors, including
domestic use, industry, agriculture, power generation, and the environment, is making it difficult for
people to access this scarce resource for productive, consumptive and social uses. In water scarce
regions and countries, inequity in access to water resources is increasing because of competition for
limited resources, and this particularly affects poor rural areas or under developing countries due to
lake of efficient and proper management of this scarce resource.

Pakistan specially Karachi is one of these unlucky cities and ranked as among the worst cities for
living. The city has a population of 15 million and can certainly be referred to as the most densely
populated metropolis in the country is currently meeting just 50% of its total water requirement,
according to officials from the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB). The city needs 1.1bn
gallons of water daily but can only supply 550m gallons per day (MGD). Meanwhile, Karachi’s
population growth rate of 4.5% per annum means that nearly a million newcomers – economic
migrants, refugees and internally displaced people – enter the city every year, further stressing the
already-limited water supply.
The water crisis is the result of several factors. Scarce water resources persistently fail to meet the
massive demand from a growing population. The Hub Dam went dry earlier this year, leaving
Karachi with just one water source, the Indus River, which is more than 120km away from Karachi
city. The some important issues that causes Karachi to face serious water scarcity are Dry dams,
leaky pipes and tanker mafias above mentioned long transmission route also causes problems –
leakages and water thefts account for the loss of almost 30% of the city’s water supply. When the
water does reach citizens, distribution inequalities arise; there is no metering system to monitor real
use or water waste. A “water tanker mafia” also illegally punctures pipelines and siphons off water to
sell at inflated rates on the black market, highlighting other problems linked to chronic corruption,
mismanagement and poor governance.
However, a decline in the KWSB’s institutional capacities to manage its aging operational systems,
imbalance in the supply and demand, dilapidated water distribution networks, decaying pumping
machines, soaring incidents of water theft and leakages in the supply lines, increasing dependence
on water vendors and inappropriate as well as imprudent tariff structures are, among others,
pressing problems which have created impediments in the overall performance of the KWSB.

Some strict measures are necessary to be taken against theft of water and new water pipelines are
needed to install across city to mitigate these losses, on the other hand some strong strategies are also
needed to manage this real time issue.

References:

https://www.dawn.com/news/615047
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jun/28/karachi-
pakistan-water-crisis
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275964934_An_overview_on_emerging_water_scarcity_in_
Pakistan_its_causes_impacts_and_remedial_measures
http://iportal.riphah.edu.pk/newspaper/water-crisis-in-karachi-old-issues-needing-a-new-look/

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