00:00For people in Quetta, every day starts with the same concern. Will there be water?
00:14Shazia Bibi's family is one of many households struggling to make ends meet.
00:21And now buying water has turned into an additional burden.
00:30The city of more than 1.5 million people needs roughly 60 million gallons of water every day.
00:43But the Water and Sanitation Authority, the department responsible for the city's water supply, is only able to provide about half.
00:52It is estimated that around 30,000 tube wells operate across the city, nearly half of them unregistered.
01:00Unlike other regions of Pakistan, Quetta relies almost entirely on underground water.
01:19But the levels have dropped to alarming depths.
01:21This is made worse by low rainfall.
01:24Quetta is the capital of Balochistan, Pakistan's largest and most sparsely populated province.
01:31The region faces severe water shortages because of its geography and climate.
01:36The crisis isn't limited to water shortages.
01:37A study found that nearly half of Quetta's drinking water contains
01:41dangerously high levels of fluoride levels.
01:42This makes water unsafe for concern.
01:43The water is not limited to water shortages.
01:46The crisis isn't limited to water shortages.
01:48A study found that nearly half of Quetta's drinking water contains dangerously high levels of fluoride.
01:56This makes water unsafe for consumption and contributes to serious health problems.
02:15The water drainage, we are running clean water in a piped way.
02:21So, there is also biological contamination, chemical contamination, physical contamination.
02:30So, there are three kinds of contamination.
02:33In which, we see that every day we get a pneumonia or diarrhea.
02:42Experts say Quetta's fragmented water management system needs to be restructured.
02:47Bringing all water distribution under one central authority could help streamline supply and planning.
