People wait outside a filtration plant to fill cans with drinking water in Quetta. PHOTO: EXPRESS
QUETTA: Severe water shortage has hit many parts of the provincial capital Quetta during the last 10 days. Experts have predicted that there will be no water by 2025 if the problem is not addressed on time. A water tanker which was being sold for Rs800 is now being sold for Rs3,000.
Masjid Road, Patel Road, Brewery Road, A-1 City, Faqeer Muhammad Road, Sariab Road, Khrotabad, Pasjtoonabad, Nawan Killi, Airport Road, Killi Mubarakh, Killi Tarkha, Killi Bilalabad, Jail Road, Mannu Jaan Road, Killi Ismail, Tajikabad, Quary Road, New Faqeer Muhammad Road, Mir Khalilur Rehman Road, Archer Road, Fatima Jinnah Road, Meckangi Road, Pir Abu Alkhair Road, Sirki Road, New Najamuddin Road, Arif Road, Gordat Singh Road, Killi Faizabad, Mumtaz Town, Killi Geo, Kashmirabad, Qambrani Road, Killi Habib Langoabad, Alamdar Road, Kasi Road and their surrounding areas are in dire need of water.
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A resident of Alamdar Road, Nauroz Ali, said that for the last 10 days “we are facing severe water shortage”.
“On the pretext of heightened security, the tanker owners have increased their rates from Rs800 per tanker to Rs3,000,” said Ali. “Sometimes the tanker owners make us wait for three days.”
The people from most of the areas facing water shortage were of the view that due to the inability of the Water and Sanitation Authority in providing water to the people of the city, the tanker owners were minting money.
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The women and children of the areas where there is severe water shortage have to wait all day long for water or go out of their homes in search of it.
The people of the city complained that there is no water in the homes while the tanker owners have water in huge quantity which they sell to them on higher than the normal rates.
They said every year in summer severe water shortage occurs.
They questioned that why any plan wasn’t being devised to supply water from the available resources?
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According to experts, as groundwater is depleting at a rapid pace, by 2025 there will be no water and the people will have to shift to other cities.
They said, “In the past there were a few lanes with a population of 2.3 million. A house which used to be on 3,000 to 4,000 feet, now dozens of apartments have been constructed in that space with hundreds of people living there.”
The experts said that there were several illegal tube wells set up in residential quarters and houses in Quetta, which was increasing the water shortage problem.
According to them, apart from Quetta’s western and southern bypass, tube wells had been set up in many parts of the city from where water was being supplied to tankers.
They urged the concerned quarters to take immediate notice of the illegal tube wells set up in various localities of the city and the depleting groundwater so that the main problem of the people of Quetta could be resolved.
It is pertinent to mention that some parts of Quetta were facing severe water shortage for the last six to seven months, but for the last few days it has spread to many other areas of the city.
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