Trump aid cut threatens water scheme in Pakistan's hottest city

AFP English

With temperatures sometimes rising above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), Jacobabad is Pakistan's hottest city and maintaining secure water supplies is essential. But residents' access to the resource is no longer guaranteed. The city's supply system, pumping and purifying water from a canal, was funded by the US until President Donald Trump imposed a 90-day freeze on foreign spending. With funding drying up, so too could Jacobabad's supply of clean water.

Transcript

00:00Music

00:28Since everything is just suspended, we have to withdraw our staff and we have to withdraw all services for this water project.

00:37It's a life-saving issue. Water is more than a life-saving medicine. Water is life.

00:44Music

01:05The city of Jacobabad is the hottest city in Pakistan. If we don't get this water in the summer, we will have to face a lot of difficulties.

01:16You see, water is a part of life. We cannot live without water, be it humans, animals or anyone else. So, water is most important for us.

01:26Music

01:41If this project is being suspended, it will have a bad impact on people's lives.

01:46First of all, the 3.5 lakh population of Jacobabad will not get the sweet water that they used to get on the doorstep.

01:56And the other source, the local water vendors, the Gadagade water, is contaminated. So, people are suffering from a lot of diseases.

02:07Music

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