For AJE, we investigate how the real story behind Karachi's water crisis isn't a water supply shortage, it's crime.
In an investigation that took weeks of reporting, we spoke to water tanker operators, travelled to illegal hydrants on the outskirts of the city, and spoke to those most affected by the water crisis.
“What water?” asked Rabia Begum, 60, when told the reason for Al Jazeera’s visit to her home in Orangi earlier this year. “We don’t get any water here.”
“We yearn for clean water to drink, that somehow Allah will give us clean water.”
“We yearn for clean water to drink, that somehow Allah will give us clean water.”
Karachi is supposed to get 550MGD of water everyday, but a staggering 42% of that is either lost, or stolen.
“If 550GMD of water actually reaches Karachi, then right now [...] we would be able to [...] provide water to everyone,” says Ovais Malik, KWSB’s chief engineer.
“If 550GMD of water actually reaches Karachi, then right now [...] we would be able to [...] provide water to everyone,” says Ovais Malik, KWSB’s chief engineer.
The scale of the theft is staggering. If tankers in Karachi are making 50,000 trips a day (one urban planner's estimate), that amounts to $1.43 million, every day. By the end of the year, stealing water in Karachi is an industry worth more than half a billion dollars.
The result: In Karachi, the market for water, a basic human right, has become privatised, and only those with the money to pay for it get access.
“Who is going to make money getting water to a poor man? Where there is money, the water will reach very easily,” says one analyst.
“Who is going to make money getting water to a poor man? Where there is money, the water will reach very easily,” says one analyst.
And who's responsible for stopping the theft? The same people who benefit from it:
“If we fix the system, whatever illegality is happening will [be] finished,” says a senior KWSB official. “These things are possible. We can do them,” he adds. “But we don’t want to do them.”
“If we fix the system, whatever illegality is happening will [be] finished,” says a senior KWSB official. “These things are possible. We can do them,” he adds. “But we don’t want to do them.”
Finally, as always, it is Perween Rehman's words that ring true, even in death:
“It is not the poor who steal the water. It is stolen by a group of people who have the full support of the government agencies, the local councillors, mayors and the police; all are involved.”
“It is not the poor who steal the water. It is stolen by a group of people who have the full support of the government agencies, the local councillors, mayors and the police; all are involved.”
