Ahsan ul Haq Shaikh
IMAGINE a country built on mighty rivers and towering glaciers. That’s Pakistan. For years, water was our greatest gift. But today, that gift is turning into our biggest headache. Experts around the world are warning that future wars won’t be fought over oil or gold—they’ll be fought over water. And right now, Pakistan is sitting right in the middle of this coming storm.
So, what went wrong? It’s not that we don’t have water; it’s that we are wasting it—and on a massive scale. Our population is booming, our weather is going crazy thanks to climate change, and we are still farming like it’s the 1950s. We use outdated methods that waste billions of gallons, while our neighbours are building dams that could cut off our supply.
But the wastage doesn’t stop at farms. Look around our cities and factories, and you’ll see water disappearing everywhere. Old, leaky pipelines in metropolitan areas lose millions of gallons every single day. Industries pour out huge quantities of water through their processes, while chemical byproducts and wastewater from treatment plants often go untreated and unused. Even routine tasks like car washing, housekeeping, and floor cleaning consume far more water than necessary. And let’s not forget the reverse osmosis plants that regenerate and flush away tons of water daily. It’s a silent crisis happening right under our noses.
Farming is the heart of Pakistan, but it drinks up most of our water. The old-school flood irrigation technique loses more water than it saves. The solution? Simple upgrades like drip irrigation and fixing leaky canals. These small changes could save our crops and our water at the same time. We have a long coastline, yet we barely use it. While the rest of the world turns salty seawater into fresh drinking water through desalination, we are ignoring this massive solution. It’s expensive, but with our future on the line, it’s time to start looking at the ocean as our lifeline.
History shows us that great civilizations always respected water. They built dams and reservoirs because they knew that water meant wealth. We have big dams like Tarbela and Mangla, but our population has doubled, and our dams haven’t. We need to build more, and we need to do it fast. Heatwaves are getting hotter, rains are getting weirder, and our glaciers are melting too fast. If we don’t act now, we’ll face empty taps, failed crops, and dark cities because our hydroelectricity will run low.
The good news is that we can still turn things around—but it requires awareness and action at every level. That’s why we need to organize symposiums and workshops to educate end users, from factory owners to household helpers, from farmers to local municipal workers. When people understand just how much water they waste and learn simple ways to save it, change becomes possible. These gatherings can bring together experts, policymakers, and ordinary citizens to share ideas, demonstrate water-saving techniques, and build a culture of conservation.
Pakistan has the brains, the resources, and the potential to win this fight. But we need to stop treating water like it’s endless. We need to treat it like the treasure it is.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Chunian, Punjab.
