Water Matters

Water scarcity is drawing a considerable attention of various think tanks and scientific magazines these days. The general impression is that some of the major, and well developed, cities of the world have begun to observe a considerable levels of water shortage. There is news about water problems of Mexico, and there are concerns about water crisis looming in some cities of the US. There is already reasonable awareness in some learned circles that water distribution is a very serious issue in many Asian countries. In some parts of the middle east there are already talks about assigning small quotas on per person basis to distribute the limited amount of usable water equally among the inhabitants.

The issue of water distribution needs to be taken seriously because the supply of this commodity is rapidly decreasing in wake of its drastically increasing demand. And the increased demand can be fairly explained in light of not only the increasing population, but also of the massive industrialization that has taken place over the past and that is expected to increase further in the future.

Poorly designed water distribution systems have not spared Pakistan a chance to prosper either. Actually it is general knowledge in our country that a significant proportion of our population does not have access to clean drinking water. This is a pity. And this is the plight of the people of Pakistan. Added to this are the future projections of further dwindling of water supplies in the near future. And that near future is not very far. It is expected to arrive as soon as the next five years. This is quite daunting.

Contrary to our poor water distribution systems, the truth is that is abundant water in the country. We have glaciers that melt during the summers. We have massive rivers that can carry that water to the sea. And we have a relatively calm and docile sea as well that splashes water gently mack to our shores. We also have rains and monsoons. And it is also not very hard to dig a well in your backyard to be able a fetch a pale of water when needed. Water can be found at relatively shallow depths in various parts of Pakistan.

Despite the abundance of water, most people are still deprived of clean drinking water. Water is not readily available for irrigation in various parts of Pakistan. We observe massive floods in Pakistan. And yet we frequently end up as a thirsty nation. Moreover, the analytical forecasts do not tell a nice story about us as a water rich country.

Whatever the reasons for this predicament of Pakistan, here at OptimumT we love to contemplate on this problem as well. In wake of this we have written a research proposal that is aimed at addressing water distribution problems of Pakistan. We hope to be able to design more efficient water distribution networks that would one day be helpful in supplying adequate and ample quantities of water to our people.

You might find our insights interesting, if not comprehensive. Our analysis of the problems is under evolution at the moment. At OptimumT we have a child-like curiosity to wonder about why so much abundance of water is mismanaged in Pakistan. If you find this problem interesting please have a look at our ideas.

Photo by Koshyk

CC BY-ND 4.0 Water Matters by OptimumT is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.