Water is the most crucial natural resource for proliferation of life and human development. It is used virtually for all the human needs. Water grows crops, produces electricity and it is used to refine oil and gas, as well as to mine coal and uranium. Simply put, water security, together with food security and energy security, is ultimately tied to human security. Water scarcity a affects countries across Asia and a large share of the global population is living in water-stressed conditions. Asia is the world’s driest continent and also one of the most water polluted regions, as rivers and lakes are becoming polluted due to the population in influx. While the region is facing water shortage and pollution, the world’s fastest-growing demand for water is in Asia in order to satisfy the needs of a growing population and economy. The UN suggests that every person requires 20-50 liters of water a day just to ensure their basic needs for drinking, cooking and cleaning. Yet, water pollution in Asia.

There are places in the region where not even a liter of water is available for any of these purposes. According to the Asian Development Bank report, three out of four countries in Asia are facing a severe lack of water, and some are in danger of a crisis unless steps are taken to improve water management. In China, for example, 500 million people are without clean drinking water. Other countries in Asia like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Cambodia are facing their own share of water shortage and pollution. A glance at the interactive map tells you that almost every country in the region is either suffering from water shortage or pollution.

Latest report about the Shortage of safe drinking water in Pakistan, with an estimated 44 per cent of the population without access to clean drinking water, is proliferating quickly. In rural areas, 90 per cent of people don’t have access to this basic necessity of life. The threat of clean drinking water scarcity contains one of the biggest challenges to Pakistan’s survival. This threat is real, as it has been taking millions of lives especially those of children. It is estimated that about 200,000 children in Pakistan die every year of diarrhea alone, according to a report of Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR). It is predicted that by end of the year 2020, the population of Karachi is expected to be approximately 23 million and the demand of water would be 1242 MGD (54 GPCD). And the short fall of water will be of 600 MGD (2700 ml/day). In Pakistan, majority of population is using groundwater for drinking purpose. Contamination of this source due to unplanned urbanization and industrialization is a major problem. Exploitation of natural resources and discharge of hazardous wastes into Sea, rivers and lakes without proper treatment is one of the major concerns. As water is the essential need of every human being and it’s a right of every person to have access to drinking safe water, government should pay attention to water crisis, least the government can do is ensure smooth provision of this most basic public health necessity to the deprived people and to prevent thousands of Pakistani children from dying. Clean water should be provided to everyone especially the villagers. Government should take all possible steps to resolve the water shortage problem and provision of clean drinking water to the citizens.