Capital braces for water crisis

With advent of scorching months residents fear untold miseries

ISLAMABAD: Water like oxygen is the source of life for without either it is impossible to survive.

The crisis of access to clean drinking water is reaching alarming proportions and the major part of the world with a burgeoning population is striving to meet its daily needs desperately.

In Pakistan it is estimated that over 38 million people do not have access to clean and safe drinking water and its supply is dwindling quite rapidly.

The cities without proper urban planning and inadequate and erratic water supply are facing the brunt of the shortage and the people are facing untold miseries for want of water.

Islamabad the capital city despite being the hub of political, diplomatic and cultural activity housing a sizeable community of foreigners of the Diplomatic Enclave, NGOs and UN offices has its share of water woes too.

Residents can be seen forming long queues clutching canisters, bottles and anything portable to carry water at filtration plants in the federal capital territory which lends credibility to the argument that there is an acute shortage of piped water supply in the city.

Lack of potable water is proving to be a boon for mineral water companies which are capitalising on the situation boosting their business manifold.

It is not even summer yet

With the advent of a scorching summer a few weeks away in May, the residents are frantic about the water situation.

Azaz Malik, a resident of Sector F8/1 said the issue was almost a decade old now but Capital Development Authority (CDA) could hardly come up with a sound plan. “The only remedy to the issue for the civic body lies in supplying water through tankers. But this remedy also is becoming ineffective besides being controversial among citizens,” he said.

Malik was of the view that the entire sector of F-8 was facing acute water shortage as supply of water was very low and underground water table was also depleting day by day. He reminded that such was the gravity of water shortage that the main opposition party in the capital’s local government, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), launched a protest campaign against water shortage in almost all the residential sectors.

Official view

When contacted, CDA spokesperson Mazhar Hussain said sufficient potable water was being supplied to the capital city from the existing sources and no abnormal situation had been reported this month.

He said there were two main sources of water supply to Islamabad, Simly and Khanpur Dam, adding Simly Dam is supposed to provide 42 million gallons per day but due to low level, only 24 million gallons was being supplied to the city.

The CDA spokesman kept presenting the rosy picture. “Repair and maintenance of tube wells as well as cleansing of filter beds have also been carried out and all-out efforts will be made to ensure smooth water supply during the upcoming summer season,” he said.

Hussain said water theft was also a major reason for water shortage.  The CDA had also initiated an inquiry against officials involved in stealing water using illegal connections from the main supply line from Simly Dam, he added.

Repairs and maintenance

Water Supply Directorate of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) had carried out repair and maintenance of 33 tube wells and two filtration plants, fixed 67 leakages and disconnected three illegal connections in addition to the cleansing of filter beds of different water installations during last month.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2017.