HYDERABAD-Aug25: Flood affected women coming out from their inundated rain water house at Muslim Colony area, as incessant rains in Hyderabad since the past week have made lives miserable in the city, especially for people living in the low-lying areas. The rains and consequent floods have wreaked havoc in several colonies, with water inundating homes up to several feet and washing away valuables. ONLINE PHOTO by Nadeem Khawar
It is inexplicable and a devastating critique of the Pakistani state that 77 years after independence, almost half of Pakistan’s urban population go without access to water.
In a recent column, Danyal Adam Khan, an urban development specialist noted that according to a recent report by Asian Development Bank, 43 percent of Pakistan’s urban population does not have access to water and groundwater of Pakistan’s cities has been depleting at an alarming rate.
Khan calls upon a multifaceted and holistic strategy to tackle the challenges. “A possible three-step solution could look something like this: 1) invest in an urban water-metering system, without which we are blind to how much is being consumed, and where; 2) charge a progressive tax on excess usage above the minimum provision; 3) use these funds to extend the water and sanitation network to full coverage, repair dilapidated infrastructure, and invest in rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge.”
Khan warns that “status quo is a result of too little regulation, not too much of it. Without it, we will continue to live in a situation where the privileged pump out water without cost or accountability, and the marginalised are pushed further into a state of perpetual deprivation. When no rules apply and no system exists, everyone loses in a race to the bottom.”
