Four water supply projects approved

The Punjab Planning and Development (P&D) Board has approved four projects for the supply of 52 million gallons of water per day to Rawalpindi.

According to sources, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide financial assistance for all these projects. The projects will be completed under the Punjab Intermediate Improvement Cities Project (PIICP), they said.

The sources revealed that the projects will resolve Rawalpindi’s longstanding water shortage problem. The various parts of the garrison city are facing acute water shortages as the groundwater level has plummeted, they said, adding that the water shortage has increased manifold in the recent past amidst rising temperatures.

According to the sources, the P&D has proposed a study of the Dadocha Dam project which, upon completion, will provide 35 million gallons of water per day for the city’s needs.

The body has also approved the improvement of the Rawalpindi Dam Surface Treatment Plant and a project to install a 30-inch diameter pipeline through the 48-inch diameter pipeline with an estimated cost of Rs2 billion, the sources said.

The project will provide five million gallons of water per day to the garrison city, they added.

Currently, an alternate pipeline, which was laid upon the expiry of the 48-inch diameter pipeline, is said to be providing 23 million gallons of water to the city’s huge population.

On the other hand, another pipeline will be installed for uninterrupted water supply to Khayaban-e-Sir Syed, they said.

The proposed Chahan Dam project will also be completed at an estimated cost of Rs17 billion which is expected to provide an additional 12 million gallons of water per day to the six union councils of Rawalpindi.

The PIICP has hired consultants for these four projects, the sources said, adding that the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) will be the supervising agency for these projects.

Besides providing 52 million gallons of water per day to the residents of the garrison city, the projects will minimise the city’s dependency on more than 400 tube wells that provide the most expensive water to the residents, the sources claimed.

Moreover, the proposed projects will help avoid frequent maintenance costs of the tube wells, they added. It was also said that the move will lessen the financial strain on the civic agency by decreasing its dependency on the tube wells.

Earlier this year, experts warned that Pakistan was on the brink of becoming a water-scarce nation due to aggravating temperature rise and climate change which demanded improved water pricing and governance to avert the looming threat of shortage.

According to the experts, the groundwater level has gone down around 750 feet while several tube wells have dried up because of fewer rains. They said that construction of the Daducha and Ghazi Barotha dams must be completed immediately to deal with the serious water shortage.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2022.