Overview
- More than 80% of Pakistan’s population lacks safe drinking water, contributing to widespread waterborne disease, the ADB reports.
- Per capita water availability has plunged from about 3,500 to roughly 1,100 cubic metres, well below the 1,700 benchmark considered safe.
- The Indus Basin faces mounting pressure from upstream controls and ageing, insufficient infrastructure, with limited storage and expanding urban encroachment increasing disaster risk.
- Over-extraction is draining groundwater and spreading arsenic contamination, while weak WASH systems persist, including continued open defecation in many areas.
- ADB identifies a severe financing gap, noting about Rs1.5 trillion in recent PSDF allocations versus an estimated Rs10–12 trillion needed over the next decade, and urges stronger National Water Council coordination, volumetric pricing, an independent water-quality authority, and equity measures.