Economic impact of water crisis

The World Economic Forum in a recently published report has said that Pakistan’s economy can face big challenges in the coming decade due to several looming risks, with water crisis being a primary threat among others. The report named ‘Regional Risks for Doing Business’ said that Pakistan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka will face 10 big threats such as failure of infrastructure, bad governance, inflation, cyber-attacks, unemployment etc. Another pertinent risk that the report mentioned is of involuntary large-scale migration.

The report also stated that in the region of South Asia, rise in oil prices can also prove detrimental to economy. It further stated that terrorism will continue to pose a challenge to Pakistan. Pakistan is particularly vulnerable to an imminent water crisis as official projections show the country, whose population has increased fivefold since 1960 to some 207 million, will run dry by 2025, when they will be facing an “absolute scarcity” of water with less than 500 cubic meters available per person.

Growing water shortage and its potential harmful impact on human society has been the subject of much media attention in recent months with renewed calls to preserve water resources and build large dams. Chief Justice of Pakistan is personally spearheading a campaign to raise funds for Diamir and Bhasha dams. Massive infrastructure projects may sound appealing for political leadership as vote grabbers, but they have several harmful impacts associated with them.

There are various sustainable solutions available to looming water crisis without minimizing the environmental impact. Industrial scale desalination plants and innovative Irrigation methods are a few such methods being widely used worldwide. Government needs to pay heed to these international warnings and act upon their advice with suitable modifications according to our national needs.