Pakistan’s water emergency has grown from a muted environmental fear into a national emergency. Once blessed with rich rivers and aquifers, the country now encounters severe contamination and scarcity. Scientific reviews show shocking levels of arsenic, fluoride, and bacterial pollution in groundwater, with arsenic reaching up to 1400 µg/L in Sindh, fluoride up to 30 mg/L in Punjab, and fecal coliform counts exceeding 1100 CFU/100 mL in urban supplies.

Historically, water management in Pakistan has focused on quantity rather than quality, a legacy of irrigation-centric policies dating back to the Indus Basin development era. Pakistan’s water governance should move from responsive disaster management to practical sustainability, integrating science, accountability, and community participation.

Government initiatives such as the National Drinking Water Policy (2009) and the National Water Policy (2018) were launched with great aims; ensuring safe water for all by 2025. However, progress remains slow and uneven. Are these policies really aimed at reform, or are they symbolic signs to ease international donors? Why do provincial environmental agencies still lack enforcement capability despite constitutional delegation under the Eighteenth Amendment?

The repetition of water safety drives, often launched as short-term campaigns, raises doubts about whether they are driven by real public health urgency or political visibility. Without transparent monitoring and independent audits, such policies risk becoming bureaucratic checkboxes rather than transformative instruments.

Other developing nations have confronted similar challenges but countered them with determined reforms. Bangladesh, once infamous for arsenic contamination, implemented community-based filtration and digital mapping of wells,........

© The Friday Times