How KP’s Growing Population Struggles to Survive

APP

Peshawar: As Pakistan’s population surpassed 245 million last year, the strain on its most vital resource—water—is becoming impossible to ignore.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), a combination of warm winters, declining snowfall, and population growth is turning access to clean water into a daily struggle for many residents.

In densely populated districts such as Swabi, Mardan, Nowshera, Peshawar, and Charsadda, the human cost of this crisis is evident.

In Nowshera’s Pabbi tehsil, residents must fetch clean water from filtration plants after underground wells became contaminated following the 2010 and 2022 floods.

“There is no letup in our miseries. The water table in our village became unsafe after the 2022 floods,” said Riazul Haq, a Nowshera resident. Despite raising the issue with lawmakers, he said no significant action has been taken.

Husain Khan, a farmer from Mohib Banda village, wakes before sunrise to walk nearly eight kilometers each day just to fetch drinking water. “The water in our village wells is no longer safe. We have no other option,” he said.

His struggle mirrors that of countless families across nearby towns, who increasingly depend on urban centers like Pabbi, Charsadda, and Peshawar for potable water—a basic necessity that has become a daily burden, especially for women and children.

Health consequences are mounting. Malik Riaz Khan, senior children’s specialist at Government Hospital Pabbi, warns that contaminated water is harming the most vulnerable. “Cases of diarrhea, cholera, and other waterborne diseases rise whenever water quality declines,” he said. “Long-term consumption of polluted water also contributes to malnutrition, stunted growth in children, and complications for lactating mothers.”

Experts warn that floods and contamination are only part of the problem. Professor (retd) Dr. Naeem Khattak of the University of Peshawar highlighted alarming national trends.

Pakistan ranks 14th among 170 countries at extremely high water risk. With the population projected to exceed 400 million by 2050, water demand is expected to reach 274 million acre-feet (MAF), far outstripping the estimated supply of 191 MAF.

Per capita water availability has plummeted from over 5,200 cubic meters in the early 1960s to near-scarce levels today—and could drop below 860 cubic meters in the coming years.

Systemic inefficiencies exacerbate the crisis. Only about one percent of wastewater is treated, while nearly 40 percent of water is lost through seepage, leakage, and poor canal management.

Agriculture, which consumes 97 percent of freshwater resources, faces an uncertain future: experts warn that up to 30 percent of farmland could become waterlogged and 13 percent saline in the coming decades, threatening food security in a warming climate marked by rapid glacier melt, declining snowfall, and recurrent floods.

Tauheed Khan, former Conservator of Forests, says Pakistan’s failure to build dams after Tarbela has weakened water management. “Globally, more than 46,000 dams have been built.

China alone has over 22,000, while Pakistan has constructed only around 150 since independence,” he noted. He advocates small dams as a cost-effective, practical solution for KP, which could be completed in two to three years without massive foreign investment.

The National Water Policy 2018 underscores the urgency: Pakistan is rapidly moving from water-stressed to water-scarce. Surface water availability per person has dropped from 5,260 cubic meters in 1951 to roughly 1,000 cubic meters in 2016.

There are signs of progress. KP’s Directorate of Small Dams reports 56 small dams with a combined capacity of over 281,000 acre-feet have been completed, with another 30 under construction.

Mega federal projects, including the 800-MW Mohmand Dam, promise to store 1.293 MAF of water, irrigate thousands of acres, supply 300 million gallons of drinking water daily to Peshawar, protect downstream districts from floods, and generate clean electricity.

For families like Husain Khan’s, these projects are more than statistics—they offer hope: hope that clean water will flow from village taps, children will grow healthier, and Pakistan can secure its future against the twin threats of overpopulation and climate change.

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