The Ministry of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal shared a post with graphics, pointing out that Pakistan’s water storage stood roughly at 90 days, compared with more than 120 days in comparable regional economies and a global standard of around 300 days.
“Pakistan’s water supply is insufficient for an economy dependent on rivers, glaciers, snowmelt, and monsoon,” he said.
Pakistan has about 90 days of water storage capacity, which is far below regional and global benchmarks, as it announced plans to convene a high-level task force meeting to address growing concerns over water security in a country heavily dependent on rivers and seasonal flows.
The lack of sufficient storage capacity poses risks to food security, economic stability, and long-term growth, with the government seeking to expand reservoirs and improve water management in the country. However, efforts to expand water storage have long been slowed by political disagreements, particularly between upper and lower riparian provinces. Downstream regions such as Sindh have repeatedly expressed concerns that new dams and upstream diversions could reduce their share of water flows, while governments have struggled to build consensus on large reservoir projects by bringing provinces on board.
“The dam is not against any province, the lack of water is against every province,” Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said, according to a social media post by his ministry, highlighting the need for consensus on building new reservoirs.
