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

February 22, 2025 00:00:00


JACOBABAD, Pakistan, Feb 21 (AFP): In Pakistan's hottest city, fresh and filtered water can quench the searing onslaught of climate change - - but US President Donald Trump's foreign aid freeze threatens its vital supply, an NGO says.

Sun-parched Jacobabad city in southern Sindh province sometimes surpasses 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in increasing heatwaves causing critical health problems like dehydration and heat-stroke.

In 2012, USAID committed a $66 million grant to uplift Sindh's municipal services, including the flagship renovation of a plant pumping and purifying water from a canal 22 kilometres (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."

Between September and mid-January Sindh saw rainfall 52 percent below average according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, with "moderate drought" predicted in the coming months.

Heatwaves are becoming hotter, longer and more frequent due to climate change, scientists say.

The project pipes in 1.5 million gallons (5.7 million litres) daily and serves about 350,000 people in Jacobabad, HANDS says-a city where grinding poverty is commonplace.


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