KARACHI: Many areas of Karachi are facing acute water shortage due to slackness of Sindh government and other authorities, compelling citizens to drink bottled and tanker water.

The worst hit areas Defence, Lyari, Gulistan-e- Johar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Landhi, Malir, Korangi, Orangi, North Nazimabad, North Karachi, New Karachi and many other localities.  In many areas, salty water is being supplied, which affects public health. Water is very essential for all living things according to a natural fact and without it, they cannot survive. After air, water is the second most importing thing for every living thing to survive on the land.

A few years ago, only summer seasons witnessed water shortage in Karachi but now, the citizens have to face water related crisis in all seasons. Karachi is a mega city of Pakistan which requires more than 1,000 million gallons of water per day for fulfilling the water need of its high population. According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Karachi's population has grown to 14.91 million. There is need to raise water capacity of the city.

Citizens are paying bills for water but the government has completely failed to resolve the water issue facing Karachi. The three main reasons of this problem are the rule of tanker mafia, lobbying of mineral water companies and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board. The role of water tanker mafia in the metropolis nowadays is worst than ever. Many areas of the city depend on the water tankers because they have no supply of water from KWSB. The rule of tanker mafia in Karachi had made the water situation worst.

Secondly, the lobbying of mineral water companies has also made the life of Karachiities worst. They first basically targeted the people of elite class and then by soft advertisement goes through the mind of the people of all classes and give them the sense of hygiene water which is of course only the mineral water. The use of mineral water is nowadays a status symbol too but like the water tanker every people of the society can’t afford it.

Last but not the least, poor power supply and water shortage have a major connection with each other. In most of the areas, the water supply timing by KWSB and load-shedding hours are same so people can’t be able to store water. Apart from this, the power shortage in water pumping stations also causes the water shortage in the city.

Water is a basic necessity of life but unfortunately, people of Karachi don’t have full access to it. By going through all the three hurdles in the path of getting water, people end up using unhygienic water on which they have easy access. In Karachi, people usually have the problem of stomach related diseases and this is unfortunately because of no supply of clean drinking water.—PPI