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Pakistan Faces 'Water Bankruptcy' as Groundwater Vanishes, Provinces Fight

Pakistan is confronting a state of "water bankruptcy," where long-term water use has severely exceeded renewable supplies, causing irreversible damage. The groundwater table in Lahore has plummeted from below five meters in the 1950s to over sixty meters today, with some areas requiring drilling beyond 800 feet for potable water. The crisis is compounded by arsenic contamination in Punjab's groundwater and intense political disputes over water sharing between provinces like Punjab and Sindh. The normalization of emergency groundwater pumping for water-intensive crops, now aided by near-zero-cost solar tubewells, has turned a temporary solution into a permanent system liquidation.

Key Points: Pakistan Water Bankruptcy Crisis: Groundwater Drops Sharply

  • Groundwater table in Lahore dropped from 5m to over 60m
  • Arsenic contamination found in Punjab's water and food
  • Solar pumps remove economic incentive to conserve
  • Inter-provincial water sharing disputes intensify
  • UN report warns of irreversible hydrological damage
3 min read

Pakistan facing 'water bankruptcy': Report

Pakistan faces irreversible water bankruptcy with aquifers depleted, arsenic contamination, and political disputes between Punjab and Sindh worsening the crisis.

"In a bankrupt system, when the ledger is disputed, everything becomes a grievance. - Mohsin Leghari"

New Delhi, Feb 5

Pakistan is facing water bankruptcy with the groundwater table declining sharply every year, as states such as Punjab and Sindh remain locked in a dispute of sharing of water, according to an article in the Karachi-based The News International.

The article by Mohsin Leghari, a former Irrigation and Finance Minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, cites the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) January 2026 report, titled 'Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era', to highlight the depth of the water crisis in Pakistan.

For decades, "we have treated water" as a 'crisis', something acute that can be managed before returning to normal. The report argues this framing has become misleading because it assumes the baseline remains viable. In many regions, that assumption has collapsed. Rivers fail to reach the sea, aquifers are pumped until land subsides, wetlands disappear and glaciers retreat, the article states.

"Water bankruptcy," the report argues, is a persistent post-crisis condition in which long-term use exceeds renewable inflows and safe depletion limits, causing damage so severe that prior levels of supply cannot realistically be restored.

Bankruptcy has two components: insolvency, the use of more resources than are available and irreversibility, the damage to the system's storage and ecological functions. Pakistan exhibits both. In Lahore, the water table has dropped from below five metres in the 1950s to over 60 metres today; in some areas, potable water now requires drilling to depths of over 800 feet. The damage is not only to quantity; arsenic is also present in groundwater across Punjab, with traces detected in human hair and milk, the article laments.

Pakistan's irrigation economy has normalised groundwater as a substitute for unreliable canal supplies to quench the thirst of water-intensive sugarcane and rice crops, it points out.

What began as emergency pumping has become a permanent practice. That is not resilience; it is liquidation, temporary comfort bought at permanent cost. And solar-powered tubewells have removed even the price signal of scarcity, with marginal pumping costs near-zero, farmers have no economic reason to stop.

"Here is Pakistan's deeper problem: when claims exceed carrying capacity, the contest becomes political, not hydrological. Our internal water debate, between provinces, between canal commands, between head and tail farmers, resembles a dispute over 'missing water', measurement credibility and trust. In a bankrupt system, when the ledger is disputed, everything becomes a grievance," the article laments.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

S
Sarah B
The term "water bankruptcy" is chilling. The data about Lahore's water table dropping from 5m to 60m is shocking. It shows how critical long-term planning is. The internal political disputes over water sharing mentioned in the article only make solving the crisis harder. A sad situation for the common people.
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Vikram M
The point about solar-powered tubewells removing the price signal is so true. In India too, free electricity for farmers leads to over-pumping. We are walking the same path if we're not careful. We need to promote less water-intensive crops and modern irrigation. Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, but also Jai Pani! 💧
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Rohit P
Arsenic in groundwater and traces in human hair and milk? That's terrifying. Public health disaster in the making. This isn't just about agriculture; it's about survival. Hope the authorities there wake up and take action. We should also double-check our water quality standards.
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Priya S
With all due respect, while the report is concerning, the article seems to place the blame mostly on farmers and internal politics. What about the role of larger industrial and urban consumption? And climate change? The framing feels a bit simplistic. The solution needs to be holistic.
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Michael C
Reading this from a global perspective. Water bankruptcy is a concept that will define this century for many nations. The Indus river system is shared, so stability across the border is in everyone's interest. International cooperation on data and climate-resilient farming techniques is crucial.

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