Power cuts disrupt water supply
Various localities of Rawalpindi have been facing severe water shortages as supply from dams and tube wells continue to remain disrupted due to frequent power cuts and unannounced load-shedding.
Sources in Water and Sanitation Agency Rawalpindi said that unannounced power outages have badly affected water supply from dams and tube wells installed in various areas of the garrison city and Cantonment areas.
Residents of various localities in Rawalpindi are facing acute water shortages due to the depleted reserves of Rawal and Simly dams and power outages that have rendered almost all tube-wells dysfunctional.
Long queues could be witnessed at water filtration plants as extensive load-shedding has left residents with fewer options to meet their daily requirements. Among areas, Pirwadhai and Farooqia Colony were reported to be the worst affected in terms of water supply.
With the onset of hot weather, the increasing need for water has forced citizens to buy water from the tanker mafia or fetch water from other areas and drill wells in their homes.
In most areas, residents are being forced to purchase water tankers costing around Rs1,500 to Rs3,000.
The existing tube wells have stopped supplying water as they have gone dry while no new tube well has been installed in the densely populated areas of the city in the recent past.
A dry spell that has been gripping the twin cities for the past six weeks is gradually giving way to a dreaded water crisis in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Read Rs79b released for water projects in FY22
The water levels in reservoirs such as Simly Dam and Khanpur Dam have been decreasing continuously, due to which the supply from Simli Dam has been reduced considerably.
The residents of Rawalpindi, who usually receive 34 million gallons of water daily from Simli Dam, now have to deal with a drastic shortage as their supply has dwindled to 17 million gallons.
The water level in Khanpur Dam is also declining and the supply from this reservoir to Islamabad and Rawalpindi would also be affected if it does not rain heavily in the next two weeks.
According to the Meteorological Department, there are no signs of rain in the next 10 to 15 days in the upper parts of the country. The weather is expected to remain dry in the coming two weeks, with clouds occasionally rolling across the sky without pouring heavy rains.
A WASA official said that the citizens were not getting water according to their needs and the problem was worsening as the weather was turning hot.
He said when initiated, the first phase of the Ghazi Barotha water supply project will provide the twin cities with an additional 100 MGD. The project is pending for the past two decades and has not started despite coming up for frequent reviews.
Water for the twin cities is mainly supplied through tube wells and the Khanpur, Simly and Rawal Dams. However, the exponential increase in the populations of Islamabad and Rawalpindi in recent years has driven the water supply situation almost to a crisis point.
The PC-1 worth Rs3.1 billion for land acquisition for the Ghazi Barotha project had been cleared last year.
The estimated cost of the first phase of the project was Rs80 billion, which was supposed to be completed in three years.
The completion of the first phase of the Ghazi Barotha project will culminate with a collective supply of 200 MGD of clean water to Islamabad and Rawalpindi, with each city getting an equal share.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 13th, 2022.