Initiative being implemented to tackle water quality issues with Korean government’s help, PM’s climate aide Romina Khurshid Alam

Islamabad (November 19, 2024) – Coordinator to Prime Minister on Climate Change Romina Khurshid Alam said Climate change adversely affects water quality globally, exacerbating challenges of shrinking water availability, its contamination and affecting ecosystem health. Coping with the common water-related challenges requires collaboration and cooperation among countries.

“Global heating has increased temperatures of water bodies including lakes, rivers and oceans worldwide, reducing oxygen levels and threatening aquatic ecosystems. Warmer waters are also more prone to algal blooms, including toxic cyanobacteria, which harm aquatic life and contaminate drinking water sources,” The PM’s climate aide remarked while addressing an important event ‘Clean Water and Climate Resilience: Transforming Pakistan’s Water and Agricultural Landscape’ held here in Baku on the sidelines of CO29 Global Climate Summit on Tuesday at Pakistan Pavilion.

This event is co-organised by the Ministry of Climate Change & Environmental Coordination, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Pakistan Office and SEED Pakistan, a non-governmental organisation.

“Today, global community, particularly those living in global south are faced with rapidly deteriorating water quality but also its declining availability due to climate change-caused shifting weather patterns, depleting rainfalls, declining groundwater levels and debris-loaded floodwater runoff that turns the river water flows contaminated. Addressing these global-scale water quality challenges can be tackled only through global response,” Romina Khurshid Alam emphasised.

The PM’s climate aide pointed out that tackling soaring levels of water quality is crucial to protect lives of the people and reduce disease burden. Because, poor water quality, when consumed directly or through food source, only increase the prevalence of waterborne diseases, which are often amplified by extreme weather events such as floods and droughts.

Heavier rainfall increases runoff, which can carry pollutants like pesticides, fertilizers, and industrial waste into freshwater sources. This contaminates drinking water supplies and promotes eutrophication in lakes and reservoirs. Besides, prolonged dry periods concentrate pollutants in shrinking water bodies, leading to higher salinity, reduced dilution of contaminants, and poor water quality, she highlighted.

“Enhancing water quality reduces health risks, especially for vulnerable populations. Because, contaminated water exacerbates waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, and typhoid, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations in developing regions,” she highlighted during her address and hastened to add that warmer conditions accelerate the proliferation of harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites, posing risks to human health, especially in untreated or poorly managed water systems.

Explaining about her government’s initiatives to tackle the challenges of water contamination, She informed the participants that the climate change and environmental coordination ministry started a new $4.4 million project ‘Enhancing Water Quality Monitoring System to achieve SDG 6 in Islamabad, Punjab and KP’ with the help of KOICA Pakistan to monitor drinking water quality in close collaboration with Punjab and KP provincial governments, PCRWR and Pak-EPA. This project will benefit over 62 million people in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab & Islamabad, she added.

The project includes significant upgrades to water-quality testing laboratories, encompassing the procurement and installation of advanced laboratory equipment, minor infrastructure enhancements to ensure a safe working environment, capacity-building initiatives for laboratory staff and the WASH Cell of the MoCC, the introduction of a Management Information System (MIS) for improved coordination, and the provision of 8 vehicles transformed into water-quality testing laboratories for the Government of KP and 1 vehicle for PCRWR.

The PM’s climate Romina Khurshid Alam remarked that acknowledging the fundamental right to clean and safe drinking water, the initial and vital step is monitoring its quality.

Pakistan faces a significant challenge, with almost 44% of the population lacking access to safe drinking water.

“In response, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) collaborated with UNOPS Pakistan is making all-out efforts to enhance water quality monitoring systems in Islamabad, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on pilot basis to ensure the people of these areas have access to safe drinking water.