‘Residents getting half the water they need’

KARACHI: Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) is currently providing water at an average of seven million gallons per day to the Clifton Cantonment Board (CBC), while the residents actually need 14 million gallons per day.

This has created an acute water shortage in Defence Housing Authority (DHA), said DHA administrator Brigadier Khalid Tirmizi at a meeting with the representatives of the Association of Defence Residents (ADR) on Wednesday. Officials from the DHA and the CBC also attended the meeting at the DHA head office to discuss the residents’ civic problems.

The authorities are working with the KWSB to meet the water shortage in the area by devising “an efficient water distribution system”, said Tirmizi.

Frequent interactions with members of the ADR has helped DHA and CBC find quick and pragmatic solutions to the residents’ problems, he said, adding that the DHA has facilitated the establishment of a desalination plant in the area with the aim of solving the water related problems. He admitted, however, that the plant is currently not functional due to technical impediments, adding that the authorities will do their best to restart the plant’s operation at the earliest.

DHA secretary also informed the meeting that the DHA Cogen Plant had recently also become non-functional due to a technical problem in the plant’s compressor.

CBC is also planning to establish a reverse osmosis plant, capable of treating two million gallons of water per day, to mitigate the area’s water problems, said CBC CEO Muhammad Hayat Mahr, who said that the authorities will take “strict measures” against people who obtain water through illegal connections on the main water line. CBC officials assured the residents that sanitation works in the area had been completed but the construction of additional interceptor drains can only take place if the residents agreed to share the costs as DHA and CBC have no funds left to undertake the project.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2010.