Pakistan, March 15 -- The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has sounded the alarm: water levels in Tarbela and Mangla dams are rapidly approaching "dead storage." For a country where agriculture drives livelihoods and hydropower lights homes, this is a five-alarm fire. With a high likelihood of Punjab and Sindh heading towards a 35 per cent shortfall (in line with a series of prior warnings), Pakistan's water crisis is no longer looming. It is here. The question is whether our leaders will act before taps and fields run dry.

Our per capita water availability has collapsed from 5,260 cubic meters in 1951 to 1,000 today, edging toward "absolute scarcity" (500 cubic meters). Climate change is tightening the noose: erratic monsoons caused ...