WASA urges people to conserve water

Utility service will mark World Water Day on March 22

RAWALPINDI:

The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) will observe World Water Day on March 22 to sensitise the public about the importance of utilising water sagaciously.

“Minor things like fixing a leaking toilet flush, a tap or a pipeline could save millions of gallons of clean water daily,” Wasa Chairman Raja Tariq Mehmood Murtaza said.

On a larger scale, car wash and horticulture nurseries should use recycled water, the Wasa chief said.

There was a scarcity of water in Pakistan like many other countries of the world. "It is the need of the hour to augment new water sources especially in the parched Potohar region," he said.

While water utility services are making efforts to provide clean drinking water, it was also the duty of consumers to use water carefully.

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He appealed to consumers to conserve water and minimise the wastage of water. He said that Wasa will hold a walk, seminar to create awareness among the consumers. World Water Day observed on 22 March every year, is about focusing attention on the importance of water.

Wasa will launch a project soon to ensure the supply of additional five million gallons of water daily (MGD) to the citizens, said Wasa Director-General Abdul Sattar Isani during his visit to Rawal Lake Filtration Plant.

Wasa Managing Director Raja Shoukat Mehmood informed the DG that Rawal Dam was built in 1962 and a filtration plant was also installed to supply clean drinking water to the residents of Rawalpindi city. MD briefed the DG that the latest capacity of the water treatment plant was 20.8MGD water per day.

Among the two pipelines, the one laid in 1962 was now dysfunctional and the second line was being used to supply 20MGD, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2021.