Hub Dam likely to hit dead level soon

With water at around 283 feet, the dam's reserves will last only a month

KARACHI: Hub Dam, one of the major sources of water to Karachi, has almost reached its dead level as the reservoir only has one month's worth of water reserves left.

After reaching its highest level of 306 feet last year, the dam's water level is now around 282.90 feet, just five feet above dead level, which is 277 feet, according to Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) Spokesperson Rizwan Hyder.

The dam supplies a maximum of 100 million gallons per day (MGD) of water the city, as per its capacity. However, the spokesperson told The Express Tribune that the dam is currently supplying around 50MGD of water to the metropolis.



The dam reached its dead level in February last year and water supply to the city stopped until July, 2016, when Sindh government installed water pumps to fetch water from the dam. The dam's level increased to 306 feet after rainfall in dam’s catchment areas in July and August last year. Since then, the dam has been supplying water to the city. After the water level rose to 306 feet, the KWSB official forecasted that the dam will be able to supply water to the city for a year, while the future depends upon the rains.

According to Hyder, the dam supplies water to Lasbela district, Karachi’s District West and a small chunk to the irrigation department. He added that if water supply from the dam is stopped, District West is supplied water through the north-east Karachi line, which carries 80MGD of water from Pipri and manages to fulfill the need of water supply to District West. The district consists of Baldia Town, SITE, Orangi and Manghopir.



After 2013, when the dam reached its highest capacity of 339 feet, the last time the dam managed to reach 306 feet was last year. It supplied water for almost a year.

According to Pakistan Meteorological Department Spokesperson Abdul Rashid, they have predicted that there are no chances of rainfall till July in the catchment areas of the Hub Dam, which lies in Lasbela district and Kirthar region. Rashid added that they are observing the climate and for now the Met department is not expecting any pre-monsoon rainfall. He said, the region might  unexpectedly get rain but for July they are sure that the area will only receive moderate rainfall.

When The Express Tribune tried to contact senior officials of the KWSB, including the chief of bulk water supply, the spokesperson claimed that the managing director has not allowed any other official to respond to the media except the spokesperson himself.