Pakistan’s Water Crisis. 2022

In Pakistan
a battle for one of life's necessities
plays out
under the cover of darkness
in the country's biggest city karachi
the taps
are running dry with water in short
supply
a black market is thriving
as authorities struggle to deal with
climate change
heat waves and broken infrastructure
millions of dollars worth of water is
being stolen and sold to people
who can pay a premium
101 east meets the water thieves of
karachi
and reveals how climate change is
leaving Pakistan dry
Karachi Pakistan's largest city
with a population of 20 million is
brought to a standstill
a severe heat wave strikes the southern
port city
in June 2015 with temperatures as high
as 45 degrees
Celsius unaware and unprepared
around 1500 people across Karachi
perish from dehydration and heat stroke
01:48
memories of 2015 continue to haunt
01:51
Karachi today
01:53
but as dr raza from abbasi shakib
01:56
hospital tells us
01:57
now people are better prepared
02:01
last 2015 16 17
02:32
this is the new normal in karachi
02:37
environmentalists say pakistan is
02:39
particularly vulnerable
02:40
to the impact of climate change
02:44
and in mega cities like karachi lack of
02:47
trees
02:48
mars of asphalt roads and tall buildings
02:51
are increasing heat absorption
02:54
the growth of poorly planned yet densely
02:57
populated settlements
02:58
is making matters worse according to
03:01
shafka kakakil
03:03
former director of the united nations
03:05
environment program
03:06
karachi is a spectacular example of
03:10
population explosion
03:12
to the small coastal city which became
03:15
the capital city and it is now the
03:17
largest city
03:19
so population you have more people you
03:22
need more
03:23
water you have more shops and factories
03:25
you need more
03:26
also mismanagement karachi did not
03:30
manage to protect its water courses
03:36
with rising temperatures the population
03:38
consumes more water
03:41
more than a billion gallons are needed
03:43
each day to supply karachi citizens
03:47
but the city is only able to provide
03:49
around half that amount
03:53
for residents that means the taps
03:57
often run dry
04:22
broken water distribution lines multiply
04:25
the problem
04:26
across the city at 2am
04:30
arif arrives at the government's main
04:32
distribution pipeline
04:34
100 metres from his home
04:37
he plans to divert water to his house
04:40
with the aid of hoses
04:41
and a small motorized pump
04:59
[Music]
05:06
there are one and a half million people
05:08
in
05:30
[Music]
05:34
we head to the karachi water board to
05:36
ask managing
06:13
as water becomes sparse a black market
06:16
is thriving
06:18
so where does all this water go
06:23
to find out we go in search of karachi's
06:26
water thieves
06:28
it's a lucrative business where water is
06:30
stolen
06:31
and then sold for high profits
06:36
after many attempts we finally convince
06:39
a water thief
06:40
to meet us
07:00
foreign
07:03
[Music]
07:26
we're taken to a congested slump
07:54
[Music]
08:38
foreign
09:06
foreign
09:08
[Music]
09:20
foreign
09:24
the men take us to where they steal the
09:26
water from
09:28
water that they then sell at exorbitant
09:31
rates
09:32
while government officials get their cut
09:48
your community
10:02
department this stolen water is diverted
10:06
from the poor to the rich who can pay
10:08
more
10:10
one solution the city has developed for
10:12
its water needs
10:13
are water tankers that now handle much
10:16
of karachi's water distribution
10:19
more than 10 000 tankers operate in the
10:22
city
10:23
under government control making an
10:25
estimated
10:26
50 000 deliveries to consumers across
10:30
karachi
10:31
each day but there are few checks and
10:33
balances
10:34
and when heat waves hit karachi and the
10:37
demand for water soars
10:39
excessive bribes kick in allowing tanker
10:42
drivers
10:42
to jack up their rates
10:46
delivery of a 1 000 gallon water tanker
10:49
costs from 12 to 18 per trip
10:53
it's a steep price especially for large
10:56
poor families
10:57
who spend up to a third of their income
11:00
on stolen water
11:03
a global study projects that nearly 5
11:05
billion people
11:06
will live in water-stressed regions by
11:09
2050
11:10
while the united nations estimates that
11:12
water shortages could displace
11:14
hundreds of millions of people as early
11:17
as 2030
11:20
the karachi water board says they are
11:22
stepping up their fight
11:24
against the city's water thieves today
11:27
we're going on a raid
11:28
with tabish raza who heads the task
11:31
force
11:31
against water theft
11:40
um
12:01
[Music]
12:08
foreign
12:13
[Music]
12:22
foreign
12:27
as soon as we reach the location the
12:30
team
12:31
spots the thieves and the raid begins
12:50
foreign
13:18
foreign
13:57
a water pump is confiscated in the raid
14:01
tabish explains the kind of money
14:04
changing hands
14:05
in karachi's illegal water industry
14:14
we get them
14:40
[Music]
14:42
foreign the day's work
14:45
is not done tabish has received another
14:49
tip
14:49
off a textile factory nearby
14:53
is stealing and reselling water
15:03
a suspect is arrested at the scene
15:22
[Music]
15:38
foreign
15:48
the illegal pump from the boar is taken
15:51
out
15:51
and confiscated
15:58
this is routine work for tabish and his
16:01
team
16:02
they destroy around 10 pumps a day and
16:05
arrest the perpetrators
16:07
but in a city of 20 million people and
16:09
with limited resources
16:11
the karachi waterboard can only play
16:13
catch-up with the thieves
16:15
as shafka kakakil explains climate
16:18
change will only worsen
16:20
karachi's water woes climate change will
16:23
mean more
16:24
floods it will mean more droughts it
16:27
will mean
16:27
reduction in the quantity and reduction
16:30
and the quality of water both are
16:33
serious
16:34
there will be significant health impacts
16:38
soaring temperatures in south asia are
16:41
reaching peak levels
16:42
due to rising greenhouse gas emissions
16:46
the heat is destroying the himalayan
16:48
glaciers that supply
16:50
water to the rest of the subcontinent
16:52
[Music]
16:55
the glaciers in northern pakistan are
16:57
the biggest collection of ice sheets
16:59
outside the polar regions but now
17:03
they're melting we travel to the other
17:06
side of the country
17:07
to gulmit a village in northern pakistan
17:10
to investigate its impact
17:15
according to a new study 36 percent of
17:18
the glaciers found in the region
17:20
will be gone by 2100 sitara parveen
17:24
is a glaciologist who has studied these
17:27
ice sheets for the last decade
17:29
this was once the area which had plenty
17:32
of water from this glacier because
17:34
the glacier was much higher so the water
17:38
was
17:40
recharging these irrigation channels the
17:43
glaciers are very sensitive to climate
17:46
they act according to the temperature
17:48
and the precipitation
17:50
when it's hot it melts a lot
17:52
[Music]
17:54
since 1988 the snow line in northern
17:57
pakistan
17:58
has receded by 1.1 kilometers
18:01
what scientists thought wasn't possible
18:04
in 1 000 years
18:05
has happened within 30. if global
18:09
emissions remain
18:10
at current levels future generations may
18:13
never see
18:14
ice in south asia
18:17
[Music]
18:20
these glaciers are also important for
18:22
these farmers who are
18:24
living here who depend on these
18:26
agricultural for their livelihoods
18:28
so it's not possible without the water
18:31
from these glaciers it leaves these
18:35
village communities
18:36
nestled in the mountains highly
18:39
[Music]
18:40
vulnerable
18:41
[Music]
18:50
[Music]
18:51
lakes forming within the glaciers often
18:54
burst
18:55
causing flash floods destroying life and
18:57
property downstream
19:01
shall cut ali a local resident and tour
19:04
guide
19:05
takes us to the gulkin glacier one of
19:07
the largest
19:08
in northern pakistan as the sun
19:12
blazes on the ice sheet we see streams
19:15
of water
19:15
running down the crevasses the water is
19:19
collecting into a massive lake
19:21
within the glacier xiaokut
19:59
in june 2019 a glacial lake formed in
20:02
the neighboring
20:03
shish praklasia local officials quickly
20:07
built a concrete wall
20:09
to prevent the water from bursting the
20:11
banks but it failed to stop the savage
20:14
torrent
20:14
that suddenly engulfed the village
20:18
local resident
21:08
from the disaster management authority
21:10
says it could have been much worse
21:42
to the shish pro glacier he believes
21:45
it's the site
21:46
of another disaster in the making
21:50
he says this black glacier is moving
21:52
downstream
21:53
five to six meters a day towards the
21:56
village
22:32
prime minister imran khan's response to
22:34
the challenge of global warming
22:36
began with a program called the billion
22:38
tree tsunami
22:40
one billion trees were planted between
22:43
2014
22:44
and 2017 at a cost of 169 million
22:48
dollars
22:49
the prime minister has vowed to plant
22:51
another 10 billion trees
22:53
by 2023 the aim is to increase
22:57
forest cover and attract rains that will
22:59
help reduce
23:00
rising temperatures but more needs to be
23:04
done
23:05
2025 has been marked as the year when
23:08
pakistan
23:09
may turn into a water scarce country
23:12
unable to meet its water needs
23:16
in a country beset with problems climate
23:18
change is not considered
23:20
a top priority issue by the population
23:23
but today young pakistanis are taking to
23:26
the streets of lahore
23:28
and other cities across the country to
23:30
demand urgent action
23:32
to tackle the climate crisis
23:37
[Music]
23:51
[Music]
23:54
these young people are worried about how
23:56
climate change will affect their future
24:05
[Music]
24:16
foreign
24:29
pakistan contributes less than one
24:31
percent
24:32
of the world's greenhouse gases yet it
24:35
is one of the most vulnerable countries
24:38
affected by climate change
24:41
with one of life's necessities water
24:44
disappearing it needs urgent global
24:47
action
24:48
to stem the tide.

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