Forensic audit of Tharparkar water projects need of the hour.

Byline: Rabia Azfar Nizami

Tharparkar has 1.6 million population spread over 22,000 square kilometres. Thar desert is 17% of whole Sindh. It means 17% population is still deprived of Indus River sweat water. Tharparkar is undergoing a water crisis once again, the effects of which might become more severe than the prevailing pandemic.

Only 47% of the population has access to drinking water. Wells are crowded and their supply strained, as 60% of households wait more than an hour at wells for their turn, and 30% households spend more than Rs 30 for two buckets of water. About 85% of households use akhaal (rubber bags carried by a camel or donkey) to carry water, while 25% use buckets carried by camel or donkey. Basic waste management is present in the urban parts of the district. However, rural areas, which are 96% of the district population, lack such facilities. About 44% of households in Tharparkar have no toilets. Yes, this is a district with 1.6 million Population in Sindh which is a source of major share of revenue generation for Pakistan. The Sindh govt every year runs WASH Program but Tharparkar remains the same and so its water crisis.

It is observed that most of the inhabitants of district Tharparkar are using groundwater for human consumption, based on dug wells. The dug wells are within sand dunes region, which varies in depth between 15 to 93 meters. The groundwater mostly in the region is recharged by seasonal rainfall in monsoon (June - September).

It may be roughly concluded that 57.5 populations of Talukas mainly Mithi, Chachro, and Diplo of district Tharparkar are consuming groundwater with TDS greater than 3000 mg/L, which is much higher than permissible limit of WHO for human consumption and may be one of the reason for the poor health of the inhabitants.

Open wells are from ancient times but district local govt/ Sindh govt keep allocating funds for the same wells showing them as new cases. In the current situation, it is not feasible to dig open pit/ wells.

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