Pakistan is grappling with a severe water crisis, with 80% of the population not having access to clean drinking water. More than 90% of the grain production in Pakistan is attributed to irrigated agriculture, underscoring the indispensable role water plays in food security. As per the Water Resources Institute, Pakistan is ranked 23rd among the top 33 countries projected to face escalating water stress by 2040.
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Freshwater resources are no longer adequate to meet the growing water demand due to supply fluctuations attributed to climate variability and limited water storage capacity (30 days/year). This looming crisis threatens the agriculture sector and the industrial and domestic needs, making the need for sustainable water management practices more urgent than ever.
The potential for wastewater treatment and reuse is huge
Unconventional water resources such as treated wastewater represent a valuable and reliable alternative that can be utilized to tackle Pakistan's water challenges. Unfortunately, Pakistan is missing out on this opportunity by treating only 1% of its wastewater and failing to establish a framework for wastewater reuse. Wastewater, if treated and reused, serves the dual purpose of environmental protection through removing hazardous substances, and promotion of social equity through minimizing water wastage, reclaiming nutrients, generating energy, and redirecting resources. This transition from a linear to a circular approach is essential for turning this crisis into an opportunity for a sustainable future.
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As per the World Bank Report 2006, around 2,000 million gallons of sewage is discharged daily into the surface water bodies in Pakistan. If treated and reclaimed, wastewater can meet water requirements in areas such as groundwater recharge, construction, firefighting, toilet flushing, vehicle washing, and cooling in thermal plants, in addition to agriculture. Countries around the world, such as the USA, Spain, Australia, China, and Tunisia are using treated wastewater for augmenting the existing water resources and reclaiming essential nutrients present in the wastewater. The usage of treated wastewater for irrigation in Saudi Arabia has saved 60% of groundwater.
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Experts call for context specific wastewater management solutions at the Pakistan Water Week 2024
One of the priority research areas identified under the global IWMI Strategy 2024-2030: research and innovation for water security is to reduce water scarcity using circular management approaches. At the Pakistan Water Week 2024 led by IWMI Pakistan, a consultative meeting of experts from UNICEF, GIZ, PCRWR, FAO, NUST, WASA, CDA, and international researchers from Sri Lanka and South Africa IWMI offices, was held to share and explore global solutions for transforming wastewater into a valuable resource. The experts emphasized the need for context-specific solutions tailored to Pakistan’s unique challenges.
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Strengthening wastewater management framework is essential to mitigating contamination risks
Wastewater from industrial, agricultural, and domestic sources often contains heavy metals, which can seep into the groundwater. The IWMI team in Pakistan, under the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) funded Water Resource Accountability in Pakistan (WRAP) program, evaluated groundwater quality in District Okara, Punjab, under an extensive water quality sampling initiative.
A total of 151 samples were collected from various groundwater sources, including handpumps, submersible pumps for drinking water supply, and tube wells used for irrigation, across spatially distributed sites to assess physio-chemical and heavy metal parameters. Sample water quality analysis was undertaken at the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR). A GIS-based spatial analysis of laboratory results identified significant variations across multiple parameters, revealing five major contaminants - Arsenic , Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Nitrate, Iron , and Fluoride . Arsenic emerged as the predominant contaminant present in 32.5% of the collected samples, followed by TDS (18.5%), Nitrate (10.6%), Iron (9.9%), and Fluoride (8.6%). The concentrations of these five parameters surpass the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limits for drinking water quality.
These contaminants pose significant health risks for communities using groundwater as a source for drinking.
Focus groups discussions were conducted with the Okara and Renala Khurd communities to gauge if the health risks associated with poor water quality were prevalent in the community. Discussions revealed that constipation, stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, joint pain, fatigue, hepatitis, thyroid problems, and skin allergies were common among the community. To safeguard public health and ensure sustainable groundwater management, Pakistan must strengthen its wastewater management framework through a comprehensive and coordinated approach, including regular water quality monitoring, effective wastewater treatment solutions, community awareness programs, and policy interventions.
Circular solutions for waste management and resource recovery
Globally, IWMI promotes the circular approach through research focused on cost-effective methods for treating agricultural and septic waste. Drawing from its Resource Recovery & Reuse (RRR) series, IWMI Pakistan aims to explore solutions suitable to the local context for reducing the waste burden. Learning from successful models, such as in Ghana, where fecal sludge is transformed into fertilizer pellets through a public-private partnership, Pakistan can adopt similar initiatives. The aim is to develop a c losed-loop system that efficiently recycles resources with minimal environmental impact.
Recycling and reusing wastewater are a critical necessity in the context of rapidly depleting surface and groundwater resources in Pakistan. It offers advantages in improving both quantity and quality of water through reducing groundwater abstraction and preventing untreated wastewater from returning to rivers and seeping into the ground. There is no doubt that Pakistan has a high potential for water recovery, and it should not neglect this opportunity to improve water security. It is time to rewrite the narrative, considering wastewater not as a burden but as a catalyst for a more resilient and prosperous economy.
Sitara Gill, Kanwal Waqar, Iqra Akram, and Muhammad Arshad also contributed to this article.