MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): The scenic and mountainous valley of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), long regarded for its lush green landscapes and abundant water resources, is now going through an increasingly more dire water crisis.
over the past six months, the region has witnessed a considerable drop in rainfall, contributing to the drying up of important water sources, streams, springs, and wells. This continual loss of water has triggered widespread worries about the sustainability of water access, impacting daily lives of locals.
In what can be well described as a developing crisis, the absence of smooth potable water has emerged as one of the most alarming situations confronted by the residents of AJK.
Pipelines that once supplied potable water are now dry, leaving communities scrambling to meet even the most common desire for water. The trouble is further compounded by the speedy depletion of the region’s groundwater level, with deep wells now running dry.
This problem has now not only triggered inconvenience but has also caused severe public life issues. As getting clean water becomes increasingly harder, hygiene level is dropping, heightening the chance of waterborne diseases.
Impact of water scarcity in AJK
Lack of water is also significantly impacting agriculture and cattle, both of which can be the lifeblood of the area’s financial system. Fields which were once wealthy in vegetation are turning barren, with farmers struggling to irrigate their crops because of the shortage of water.
The arid situation has impacted crop yields and led to financial losses for rural communities that rely on agriculture for livelihoods. furthermore, the depletion of pastures has made it tough for livestock to live on.
The water crisis isn’t always restrained to human settlements, rather the whole atmosphere would feel its effects. Ecosystem, wildlife, flora and fauna and forests are facing good sized stress because the region’s streams and rivers run dry, also leaving animals without natural water assets.
The drying up of water has led to a decline in biodiversity, with many species at risk of losing their habitats. Similarly, the shortage of water has affected the forests, which depend on normal rainfall to thrive.
The reasons for the water crisis are multi-faceted, combining natural climatic changes with human-caused factors. It may be a combination of environmental degradation, rapid urbanization, and weather changes as key drivers of the area’s water woes.
Deforestation has performed a vast function in worsening the water crisis. Within the past few decades, large swaths of forests have been cleared to make room for infrastructure development, agriculture, and urbanization. The lack of bushes has had an immediate effect on the local climate, lowering rainfall and diminishing the region’s potential to adjust water cycles.
Forests play a vital function in preserving water go with the flow, as they act as herbal buffers that absorb and launch water into the ecosystem. Their destruction has disrupted this crucial technique.
Furthermore, the construction of concrete buildings, which has emerged as more and more common in city centres, has changed conventional housing methods. The massive use of impermeable surfaces in city areas has hindered the natural infiltration of rainwater into the ground, similarly depleting underground water reserves.
The depletion of groundwater sources is another critical aspect exacerbating the water crisis in AJK. Without sufficient rainfall, the region’s groundwater reserves are depleting at an alarming pace. The more and more extraction of groundwater has left many in a complex situation.
Groundwater in AJK
Groundwater is an important useful resource, especially at a place where surface water assets are scarce or unreliable. The government of AJK, in collaboration with environmental groups, local groups, and different stakeholders, should prioritize efforts to deal with the water disaster before it becomes irreversible.
According to the officials, Muzaffarabad is facing a severe water crisis now a days as 26 out of 27 water springs in the vicinity have been declared unsafe by the AJK food authorities.
AJK state food authorities said that the water samples of all the springs in the area were tested by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources and were found to be contaminated. The only spring that passed the examination was at Mehraz Tanoliyaan.
One of the simplest and sustainable solutions to the water shortage is the development of massive-scale rainwater harvesting projects at the local level. Those initiatives could permit communities to acquire and save rainwater all through the monsoon season, providing a much-wished buffer at some stage in the dry months.
