PHOTOS: Amid Drought, Pakistan Prays for Rain

Islamabad Water Carrier

Photograph by Aamir Qureshi, AFP/Getty Images

World Water Day was just another Monday for Nasir Ali, who was photographed on March 22 hauling water to his home in an Islamabad slum. Water shortages have become common for many people in the capital who must gather their daily water from government tankers or private trucks—when the precious resource is available at all.

The nation’s acute rainfall shortage has also cut water supplies at hydroelectric dams, exacerbating disruptive power shortages and forcing officials to implement some rather dramatic solutions.

Published July 1, 2010

Rawal Dam Running Dry

Photograph by Aamir Qureshi, AFP/Getty Images

A canoe near the former bank edge of Rawal Dam reservoir was left high and dry when waters receded to dangerously low levels due to the prolonged drought afflicting much of Pakistan.

Officials of Pakistan’s Small Dams Organization (SDO) told the nation’s English-language Dawn newspaper that dam water was just 20 feet (6 meters) above the dead level and that the current supply might last only until mid-July. The reservoir has reached such low levels only once before, during the drought year of 2003.

Published July 1, 2010

Karachi Water Seller

Photograph by Asif Hassan, AFP/Getty Images

A Karachi water seller pours his wares into a pushcart tank, from which he will peddle it to the city’s thirsty residents. Daily water needs are a concern on the household level, but Pakistan’s water problem is of international scope.

Much of the nation is watered by the melting glaciers of the Himalayas. The resource is shared with neighboring India, which is battling its own water woes. The proximity of these regional rivals has turned management of precious water supplies into a highly politicized and contentious issue.

Published July 1, 2010

Dam's Dry Lake Bed

Photograph by Farooq Naeem, AFP/Getty Images

The cracked, parched banks of Simli Dam, 15 miles (25 kilometers) from Islamabad, show water levels far below normal due to lack of rainfall in the region. But there are also human causes behind Pakistan’s water shortage.

Pakistan’s aging canals and dams are filled with silt, which reduces holding capacity and can make water undrinkable. Much of the nation’s water is wasted because of such aging infrastructure, and Pakistan is unable to capture much of the rain that does fall. Wasteful irrigation practices also squander much of Pakistan’s precious water supply.

Published July 1, 2010

Rawal Dam Fishermen

Photograph by Aamir Qureshi, AFP/Getty Images

Two friends try their luck with fishing tackle at Rawal Dam, while warily regarding low water levels from a spot that is usually submerged. The dam supplies water to some 40 percent of Rawalpindi’s population and also irrigates local fields, though its irrigation canal has been closed in response to water shortages.

Pakistan’s SDO officials are preparing plans to slash Rawalpindi water supplies, even as they hope for the quenching rains of the summer monsoon, according to reports in Dawn.

Published July 1, 2010

Wheelbarrow of Watermelons

Photograph by Behrouz Mehri, AFP/Getty Images

An Afghan immigrant, pictured with a wheelbarrow of watermelons in an Islamabad slum, is part of a growing population stretching Pakistan’s water supplies past their sustainable limit. While city dwellers feel shortages acutely, agriculture consumes 90 percent of Pakistan’s water. More efficient irrigation systems could improve the situation dramatically, but most of the nation’s small farmers lack the money to implement these measures and must depend on flooding their fields—or simply praying for rain.

Published July 1, 2010