The seven densely populated areas of Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) are suffering due to the extreme shortage of water supply from Khanpur Dam.
The water supply in these areas has been severely disrupted due to the low levels of underground water levels. The scarcity has become even more acute due to water being supplied on alternate days and that too at very low pressure.
With the onset of hot weather, the increasing need for water has forced citizens to buy water from the tankers mafia, fetch water from other areas and drill wells in their homes.
The existing tube wells have stopped supplying water as they have gone dry while no new tubewell has been installed in Kalma Chowk, Kamalabad, Jhaura, Tali Mohri, Raja Akram Old and New Colony, and the densely populated areas of Sana Colony.
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Instead, two underground and two overhead tanks were constructed at Alif Shah Cemetery and Lalazar and the water supply in these areas was connected to these sources.
Initially, the daily water supply from Khanpur Dam to these areas ranged between three to four million gallons of water daily (MGD) in summer. However, this was later reduced to only one MGD but on alternate days. As a result, the water supply in these areas has been severely affected. The present daily requirement of water for the most densely populated and commercial localities of these areas is up to five MGD. The non-installation of additional tube wells in these areas has further worsened the situation.
Some of the citizens of the water-scarce areas, Chaudhry Tahir, Raja Faisal Mehmood, Shoaib Niaz, Sheikh Danish, Raja Haider, Malik Zulfiqar and Akmal Bhatti said that the water supply shortage has exacerbated their problems. They said that if CCB cannot provide water then its supply connection should be disconnected.
Meanwhile, CCB former vice president Raja Irfan Imtiaz said that a schedule is implemented to meet the water need from Khanpur Dam for which two underground and two overhead tanks were constructed.
He said that water from the dam was collected in underground tanks with pressure which was later transferred to overhead tanks and supplied from there to citizens. However, it is difficult to fill overhead tanks now that the underground tanks are empty.
He further said that CCB is trying to install new tube wells in these areas and increase water supply so that the problem faced by the citizens can be resolved.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 19th, 2021.
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