Pakistan, June 6 -- Pakistan is approaching a national emergency, not one sparked by war or inflation, but by the creeping collapse of its water security. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's call for a joint federal-provincial water storage plan is welcome. Yet without structural reform, it risks joining a long list of well-meant initiatives lost to political drift.

The numbers are alarming. Per capita water availability has fallen below 1,000 cubic meters (a threshold denoting water stress). Further, it is projected to drop below 500 by year-end, pushing Pakistan into the zone of absolute scarcity. Major reservoirs like Tarbela and Mangla continue losing capacity to sedimentation, while groundwater-once an invisible reserve-is vanishing in ...