Fresh and filtered water can cool the blazing heat of climate change in Pakistan’s hottest city, but an NGO warns that US President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign funding jeopardizes this essential resource.
Sun-dried During heatwaves, temperatures in Jacobabad, in southern Sindh province, can occasionally rise above 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), leading to serious health issues such heat-stroke and dehydration.
A $66 million grant from USAID was pledged in 2012 to improve Sindh’s municipal services, which included the major refurbishment of a plant that pumps and purifies water from a canal 22 kilometers (14 miles) away.
But Pakistani non-profit HANDS says Trump’s aid embargo has blocked $1.5 million earmarked to make the scheme viable in the long-term, putting the project at risk “within a few months”.
“This has transformed our lives,” 25-year-old Tufail Ahmed told AFP in Jacobabad, where wintertime temperatures are already forecast to pass 30C next week.
“If the water supply is cut off it will be very difficult for us,” he added. “Survival will be challenging, as water is the most essential thing for life.”
The Pakistan Meteorological Department reports that rainfall in Sindh was 52% below normal between September and mid-January, and “moderate drought” is expected in the months ahead.
Climate change is making heatwaves hotter, longer, and more frequent, according to scientists.
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