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World Water Day

March 22, 2012 by · Comments Off on World Water Day 

World Water Day, The world is thirsty and nearly one billion more will lack access of clean water by 2050. According to an article published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, major urban centers will lack potable water supply in the next few decades.

The study also found that if there are no positive changes, urban centers like Tehran, Manila, Beijing and Lahore will lose the basic sill of water quota per day. It said that climate change further worsens the water supply and by the mid-century some 993 million people in urban centers will live with less than 100 liters of water each day.

Drinking water is the most precious commodity in today’s world. In Pakistan, the quota of potable water is decreasing due to population growth. According to a published report entitled “Pakistan’s Water at Risk”, the per capita availability of water was 5,000 cubic meters per annum which was reduced to 1,100 cubic meters per annum in 2007 and 2012 has brought an even further reduction.

And it is not just the quantity of our water supply that is dwindling; the quality has greatly deteriorated as well.

According to a recent report published by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), at least 40 per cent of Pakistanis do not have access to clean water. In rural areas the situation is worse with at least 90 per cent of the population not having access to clean water for drinking and cooking.

Rain and ground water are increasingly beginning to seem like our main sources to quenching this ‘thirst problem’ of both the people and livestock throughout Pakistan. But in some parts of Pakistan, and especially in Punjab the ground water is contaminated naturally with arsenic and fluoride.

Pakistan was once blessed with the bounties of fresh water but now, according to a World Bank report, it is among the top 17 thirsty countries of the world.

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