As Pakistan hurtles towards the close of the first two decades of the 21st century — proudly showing off its new and improved Big Boy WMDs, its numerous shiny shopping plazas that spring up almost daily across urban centres, not to mention imported luxury car showrooms — it appears to have forgotten the basics.
London-based non-profit organisation Water Aid’s recent report — The Water Gap: The State of the World’s Water 2018 — ranks Pakistan nine out of 10 in term of lowest access levels to potable water close to home.
Moreover, it finds that almost 22 million have no access to clean drinking water either inside or near their homes.
This is not to say that no progress has been made.
The country is also home to one of the most inefficient irrigation systems in the world.
Meaning that arsenic levels in groundwater are alarmingly high.
WHO recommends that safe drinking water should contain no more than 10 micrograms per litre.
Thus the issue of shrinking water tables can no longer remain on the backburner.
Thus the incoming government must take Water Aid’s warning seriously, at both the local and regional level.
In other words, the longer the country continues on the current path whereby it splashes cash on maintaining the world’s fastest-growing nuclear stockpile, say, the direr the future will be for this already resource-fragile nation.

Nigeria has be identified to be faced with a continuous decline in access to healthy water supply.
He added that 180,799,475 persons representing 93% of the total Nigeria population lack access to healthy water.
In spite of the accomplishments and the enormous opportunities in the water sector in terms of abundant fresh water, favourable weather, substantial human capita and numerous institutional arrangements, a lot of work still need to be done as the current national access to water supply implies that millions of Nigerians are still without access to improved drinking water resources.
He said “In spite of the enormous opportunities we have in the water sector in terms of abundant fresh water, favourable weather numerous institutional arrangements, we still have a lot of work to do.
With the current national access to water supply as at today, it implies that millions of Nigerians are still without access to improved drinking water sources”.
He informed the completion of the National water resources master plan which attaches high priority to the implementation of a series of large, medium and small dam projects in Nigeria.
“Let me inform that the National water resources master plan which gives high priority to the implementation of a series of large, medium and small dam projects in Nigeria has been finalized and we currently have over 200 dams in Nigeria.
According to him, fresh water resources are continuously under pressure of global population growth, climate change and spread of lifestyles that squander resources adding that 80% of wastewater returns to the ecosystem without being treated.
He stressed the Continous commitment to support the Nigerian governments in the transition to green and circular economies and their efforts to implement better-integrated water policies.
Tags: water

The private sector is also engaged with World Water Day.
Companies also have used the day to launch employee engagement programs to increase awareness on water issues and commit to community projects (such as Xylem’s Watermark).
The World Water Day theme in any given year also guides the focus for other annual water events during the subsequent 12 months.
For example, the 2018 theme for World Water Day is "Nature for Water," which explores nature-based solutions to water challenges such as green infrastructure solutions.
Building on this year’s World Water Day is Stockholm World Water Week 2018, where the theme will be "Water, ecosystems and human development."
It’s clear that World Water Day serves an important purpose to focus attention on water as a critical resource for the public sector, businesses, civil society and ecosystems.
However, World Water Day is 25 years old.
Today, millions of people are still without access to safe drinking water, and about 3.4 million people annually die from waterborne diseases.
I believe to a degree our slow progress is tied to our tendency to first look for technology solutions to address water issues without tackling more challenging but cost-effective strategies such as changes in public policy or customer behavior.
Last week, I was at a one-day conference where a former general manager of a major water utility ran through the challenges related to managing water.

"Water is sacred for First Nations and key to a healthy environment and the health and well-being of all living things," said National Chief Bellegarde.
"Yet too many First Nations are living at risk with no access to clean water.
The federal government’s goal of ending all drinking water advisories in First Nations communities by 2021 is clearly a challenge, but we can achieve it by working together in a spirit of partnership and reconciliation.
In Canada, as of March 5 there are 81 long-term drinking water advisories in 56 First Nation communities affecting 45,000 First Nations citizens who do not have access to safe drinking water.
The only way the federal government will achieve their commitments to end drinking water advisories by March 2021 is through significant investments in First Nation communities and by working with us to support capacity and innovation."
The Decade will focus on the sustainable development and integrated management of water resources to achieve social, economic and environmental objectives, the implementation and promotion of related programs and projects, as well as furthering cooperation and partnership at all levels to help to achieve internationally agreed water-related goals and targets, including those in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 commits to ensure everyone in the world has access to safe drinking water by 2030.
The AFN is the national organization representing First Nations citizens in Canada.
SOURCE Assembly of First Nations For further information: For media requests or more information, please contact: Jamie Monastyrski, Press Secretary, National Chief’s Office, 343-540-6179 (cell), jamiem@afn.ca; Monica Poirier, Bilingual Communications Officer, 613-241-6789 ext.
382, 613-290-0706 (cell), poirierm@afn.ca

Cameroonians joined the world over to observe World Water Day, March 22 but by far not every city in the country enjoys easy access to the commodity.
In Cameroon, residents of major cities suffer frequent water cuts, with schools impacted in particular.
Some residents, in Yaounde, capital city of Cameroon Yaounde say barely 35 percent of water supplied.
Many have resorted to unsafe sources to get the precious liquid.
A statement by a UNICEF official, in commemoration of the International World Water Day, said access to safe drinking water remained a challenge, noting that the recent studies, conducted by the government, indicated that about 40 percent of households and millions in rural areas walked long distances to source unsafe water from lakes, streams and river.
The statement said: “Children without access to safe water are more likely to die in infancy and throughout childhood from waterborne diseases.
Diarrhea remains the leading cause of death among children under five years of age in Far North Cameroon.” Little wonder why malnutrition reigns supreme in the country’s Northern regions.
With longer dry season and little rainfall, residents in the area more than often resort to nearby ponds and streams to get the precious liquid.

As World Water Day approaches, a local woman is on a mission to bring clean water solutions to the 844 million people around the world currently lacking access.
When Carly Powne began mission work in Uganda in 2013 for two months, she saw the hardships many faced in their daily search for clean drinking water.
Caring for orphans of a civil war, Powne’s village well broke, giving her the responsibility of fetching dirty, often undrinkable water from the Nile River.
World Vision donors made this all possible in 2016.
Powne is proud of the results and would like for San Antonio to participate on her team on May 19 in World Vision’s Global 6K for Water to raise money for clean water across the world.
Six kilometers is the average distance that people in the developing world walk for water that is contaminated.
Participants can take that 6K away from people in need.
One also has the opportunity to donate money to provide one child with clean water for life.
“A lot of people believe you could only dig wells, and World Vision has gone beyond that,” continued Powne.
“World Vision has been working on research in impoverished areas to provide safe water, improved sanitation, and hygiene education so that illnesses decrease and health improves.” On World Water Day, Powne would like for San Antonians to reflect on helping others gain access of healthy drinking water imagining themselves only having access to River Walk.

When a child has access to clean drinking water close to home, they have a chance to go to school, to learn, to play with their friends and to have a childhood.
Many children spend hours every day walking to collect water, sometimes missing out on a chance to go to school.
This journey can be dangerous.
The jerry cans of water the children carry can be heavy, normally around 20 kilos.
This is what sisters Eva and Catherine told me when I met them last month in South Sudan.
Like many other families, they now live in an area that does not have enough clean water for everyone.
The walk back home is tough, especially for older sister Eva who lost the lower part of her arm when she was a child.
They struggle with the weight of the jerry cans and the heat of the sun.
When I asked older sister Eva what she would do if she didn’t have to spend so long collecting water every day, she said she would go to school.
This year, UNICEF is working to bring clean water to around 800,000 people across South Sudan.

SWAMPSCOTT– World Water Day splashed into the halls of Swampscott High School as a group of about a dozen students marched to raise money for Barka Foundation, a non-governmental organization that works to provide clean water Burkina Faso, Africa.
“We want to do everything we can to help.” All together, around $300 was raised, according to the school’s French club advisor and Interact club co-advisor, Melissa Albert.
It works closely with the Rotary Club of Swampscott, according to Albert.
The French club also got involved because French is one of the more than 60 languages spoken in Burkina Faso.
Students from Marblehead High School’s Interact and French organizations, including Bobbi Dynice, Gaby Rabinovich, and Emma Grazado, joined the Swampscott students Thursday.
“We were put into contact with Marblehead through Burka,” Albert said.
“We decided it would be cool to join forces.” Each of the Marblehead students carried a gallon of water on the walk in order to represent the hardships of some women in Burkina Faso who must walk around six kilometers to and from the nearest water source with buckets balanced on their heads.
“It’s good to get involved however we can,” Dynice said.
“This is a good learning experience for our students because it combines community and language,” Albert said.
“It’s about them becoming engaged global citizens.”

DADU: Bashir Mallah, a resident of Goth Hassan Shah which is located on the bank of Pakistan biggest freshwater lake – Manchar – commutes four kilometres daily to fetch drinking water for his family.
“We live near the Pakistan’s biggest freshwater lake but we don’t get drinking water from the lake,” Mallah said.
During the visit of this area, one can see people, especially women and children, carrying jerrycans, pitchers and pots, walking miles in search of water.
According to a study ‘The Water Gap – The State of the World’s Water 2018’ published by an international non-profit organisation – WaterAid – on the occasion of World Water Day that was observed around the globe on March 22, 21 million in Pakistan don’t have access to clean water.
Another recent study conducted by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) states that 84 percent of the total population of Pakistan does not have access to safe drinking water in a country where commercial banks post windfall profits exceeding Rs 475 billion in three years.
Spreading over an area of 350 Sq km that swells to 500 Sq km during monsoon, the lake is divided into Dadu and Jamshoro district, the home district of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.
On the complaints of the local residents of around 100, Sindh government has installed 20 reverse osmosis plants to provide filtered water, but almost all the plants stopped working just one year after becoming operational.
“In September 2017, the Sindh government directed the Sindh Irrigation Department and the project management of the Right Bank Outfall Drainage to stop operation of the RO plants,” claimed Sher Muhammad Mallah, a local resident of Goth Saindad Mallah.
Contamination of lake has forced hundreds of thousands of people of nearby villages to migrate to other areas, said Nasir Ali Panhwar of Friends of Indus Forum.
Published in Daily Times, March 23rd 2018.

"You have a million people dying a year, just completely needlessly, because they lack access to clean water," says Damon, speaking to CNBC on Thursday, the 25th annual World Water Day, which serves to call attention to the problem.
Further, 4.5 billion people around the world lack access to safely managed sanitation, according to the same report.
Around the world, many people have to walk long distances to find a water source and others have to wait in long lines and pay large percentages of their income to secure any water at all, explain Damon and Gary White, who, along with Damon, co-founded the non-profit organization Water.org and the non-profit impact investment fund manager WaterEquity.
"Today, 200 million hours will be spent by women and girls walking to collect water," says White, speaking to CNBC.
Less time getting water means more time for work, school, play, family and life.
To work to solve this crisis, Damon and White came together in 2009 to launch Water.org, a non-profit that works to provide access to clean drinking water in 13 countries around the world: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Asia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Brazil, Honduras and Peru.
So if you could front them the money for a connection to the system that exists, you are buying their time back.
With small loans, women are empowered to give their families water at home.
"We take those funds and invest them in enterprises that serve the poor in terms of their water and sanitation needs," says White.
"The basic math on it is that every million that comes into the fund, over the seven-year life, 100,000 people get access to water or sanitation….