ESTIMATING THE WATER POVERTY IN SEMI-ARID DISTRICTS OF PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Abstract

An increase in population and water demand, climate change, and changes in land-use patterns are severe problems in Pakistan. Water management in Pakistan has been a provincial matter after the 18th amendment. Each province in Pakistan measures the water on its own intention and indicators. The current study aims to map the water scarcity status through the water poverty index (WPI) using the Multiple Indiactor Cluster Survey (2018) at the semi-arid districts in Punjab, Pakistan. WPI was estimated by using the components named “Resources,” “Access”, “Capacity”, “Use”, and “Environment”. Each component score was calculated using ifferent indicators, assuming equal weights for all components. Layyah (57.6) and RajanPur (48.03) had the best and worst situations among all districts in 2018. The findings showed that the absence of physical water resources in these districts is not the only factor of domestic water shortage but environment and capacity also plays a significant role in achieving the domestic water need. Due to their socioeconomic ineptitude, lack of infrastructure, and restricted access to water, the region is experiencing severe to high levels of household water poverty. This study's results showed that WPI is an operative tool to measure water scarcity and could be used to make an important priority for water management.