Youngsters in capital puncture water supply line to beat heat

CDA official says certain people break the pipelines, hard for dept to detect leaks

ISLAMABAD: As the capital suffers one of its most severe water crisis in recent years, youngsters breaking water pipes to draw water for a bath during hot days, has exacerbated the situation.

The youth cut into water pipelines to enjoy showers in the sweltering heat. On Thursday, a number of youngsters and labourers could be seen standing under water gushing out from the damaged pipelines near the Federal Urdu University, enjoying a refreshing bath. All the while, their act disrupted water supply to the capital, causing problems for residents

The Capital Development Authority (CDA), on the other hand, has failed to take action to curb this practice despite the fact that its central offices are located nearby. For the past few weeks, the capital has been in grip of a severe water shortage and the CDA had been under immense pressure to address the complaints.



When contacted, a CDA official said that certain people were involved in puncturing the main water pipeline, adding that the act was illegal.

However, while conceding the poor condition of the pipes, he said that it was easy for anyone to break rusty pipelines.

He added that it was not an easy task for the relevant departments of the CDA to detect water leakages. One of the reasons why it was difficult to track leaks was that most of the pipelines were underground and in bad condition.

Noting that the city requires 100 million gallons of water per day, the CDA official said that their water tankers were constantly on the move in different sectors to bridge the gap between demand and supply.

As per the Master Plan of Islamabad, the city’s water system was required to be upgraded after each decade in accordance with the needs of the growing population but a lack of action had resulted in a dire situation for residents of the capital.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2017.