Water day

‘Glacier preservation’ is the theme for World Water Day 2025 which falls today. This is a particularly pertinent theme considering that an estimated 60 per cent of the world’s freshwater originates from mountainous regions and the world’s glaciers, the main source of this mountain water, are steadily retreating as global warming accelerates. The UN warns that the food and water supply of around two billion people is under threat due to this glacial retreat and that up to two-thirds of irrigated agriculture worldwide will be affected in some way. At the current rate, the world is expected to lose half of its glacial mass by the end of the century. The effects of this decline will be particularly devastating for a country like Pakistan, home to more glaciers than anywhere else in the world outside the polar regions, counting around 7000 within its borders. These glaciers are a big part of the Indus River, which flows from the mountainous regions where they are located. The Indus River system is quite literally the country’s lifeline, providing an estimated 90 per cent of the water for the nation’s food production. According to experts from the International Water Management Institute and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), glacial retreat could turn the Indus into a seasonal river by as soon as 2050, destroying the livelihoods and lives of the millions of Pakistanis who depend on this river. Already, the glaciers in the mountainous regions that the Indus flows from have lost 16 per cent of their mass in just the past five years.

Aside from the threat of severe food and water scarcity, which is the ultimate destination if things continue the way they are, the way to this end-point will be no less painful. The risk of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) will only rise, making a repeat of what happened during the catastrophic 2022 floods more and more likely as glacial retreat progresses. This is already a severely water-stressed country and, according to World Bank predictions, water availability will fall below the minimum threshold of 1000 cubic meters per person by the end of this year. Unlike the developed world, Pakistan does not have sophisticated water infrastructure to forestall the problems created by declining glaciers. Much of the freshwater the country gets is wasted and what water management infrastructure is in place is showing signs of failing. The country's biggest reservoir, Tarbela Dam, has almost reached the dead level of 1,402 feet -- signalling an increase in water shortage of up to 41 per cent at rim stations and a 50-55 per cent shortage at canal heads.

This situation simply cannot go on. Saving the country’s water and protecting it from future natural disasters is now inseparable from stopping the disappearance from saving the country’s glaciers. However, the power to reverse global warming lies mainly outside of the country’s power. Sadly, those with the most impact on global warming in terms of greenhouse gas emissions have shown little willingness to change their ways and cut emissions. The best a country like Pakistan can do in such circumstances is take remedial measures and hope that the world’s wealthy come to their senses soon enough. How many millions or billions will be without water by the time they do remains to be seen.