The duty of providing potable water where required is becoming too difficult all across the world.
In recent decades, countries have made necessary investments in infrastructure designed to alleviate water shortages.
But the reply has for the most part unnoticed the crisis posed by the worsening state of aquatic resources.
If the increasing water crisis is to be effectively addressed, actions will need to link water use with environmental care.
In many places, even where water is still abundant, environmental damage has made water too expensive to use. In some others that enjoy a good supply of water, it is used improperly.
Priorities can be so crooked that while cities remain desperate for water, farmers are irrigating fruits or cotton in the desert.
Even less acceptable, fresh water is used to preserve gardens and maintain golf courses while the urban poor are forced to pay high to buy drinking water by the bucket.
As a result, more than 700 million people in over 40 countries are affected by water shortages.
Human encroachment on water environments is also a growing problem.
The challenge remains of meeting today’s water needs while putting in place innovative strategies to address future requirements.
Not enough measures have been taken to solve this issue, while sometime the efforts which are made seem to be difficult to translate into action.
When the authorities sit down to bargain about the allocation of water, the environment gets short shrift.
SYED HASSAM AHMED
Karachi