The original version of this article, by Michael Kugelman, appeared on Dawn.

There’s been much discussion lately about the “water kit,” a mysterious contraption that a purported Pakistani engineer insists will enable cars to use water as fuel.

Yet missing from this debate is a basic but critical fact: Pakistan is dangerously water-deficient. Per capita availability hovers just above the scarcity threshold of 1,000 cubic meters. In several decades, availability could plummet to 550 cubic meters.

So even if this bizarre water car somehow defied the laws of physics and managed to work, it would be unsustainable – unless it used the Arabian Sea as a giant filling station, or guzzled bottled water.

It’s not surprising that few have mentioned this water dilemma. Water resource issues – and other human security topics like food security, public health, and education – are repeatedly drowned out of Pakistani public debate by the incessant din surrounding militancy, political drama, and the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.

Continue reading on Dawn.

Photo Credit: “Lives devastated by floods,” courtesy of Asad Zaidi/UNICEF.