Heal the world

The following article was published by Al-Jazeera in May,2022. It tells us how people are suffering, yet we continue to waste water to satisfy our needs!

Jacobabad, in Pakistan’s arid Sindh province, is in the grip of the latest heatwave to hit South Asia – peaking at 51 degrees Celsius (124 Fahrenheit) at the weekend. Canals in the city – a vital source of irrigation for nearby farms – have run dry, with trickles of stagnant water barely visible around strewn rubbish. Most of the one million people in Jacobabad and surrounding villages live in acute poverty, with water shortages and power cuts compromising their ability to beat the heat. It leaves residents facing desperate dilemmas. Access to drinking water is unreliable and unaffordable due to scarcity across Pakistan and major infrastructure problems.
A 12-year-old collapsed after walking home from school under the burning sun, his day spent sweltering in a classroom with no fans. “A rickshaw driver had to carry my son here. He couldn’t even walk,” the boy’s mother Shaheela Jamali told AFP from his bedside.

Water scarcity is a major problem in Pakistan. The Indus River is the ‘lifeline’ of Pakistan. It provides for almost 300 million people and the water required for agriculture, industrial use, energy production and human consumption. However, the river is being negatively impacted by rising temperatures, changes in weather patterns, reduced flows, habitual destruction and pollution.

Credit: The Express Tribune