Major water project still on the backburner

WHO ranks Pakistan 23rd among water-starved nations

RAWALPINDI:

On the occasion of World Water Day keeping in view Pakistan ranking 23rd among the countries suffering from severe water shortage in the next decade and its fast-depleting water reserves, it has become inevitable to adopt austerity at the national level.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also declared the availability of water in accordance with the principles of hygiene and securing water reserves as extremely significant because every year more than five million people in the world suffer from diseases due to the use of contaminated water.

Given the rapid decline of the underground water levels in Pakistan and the increase in the need for water due to its growing population, it has become extremely necessary to protect the reservoirs, but also to use the seawater as well as the water from the rivers, which gets wasted by falling into the sea, for drinking after treatment.

Further, rainwater harvesting can be used for proper and economical use of water for bathing, and ablution in mosques and the same water can also be used for irrigation purposes.

Currently, water is being used through the wash basin to commode link in an awareness campaign for the correct and economical use of water in Japan, through which the water used in the wash basin can be reused in the commode.

In this regard, it is also important not to have leakages in the water supply network, not to overflow the overhead tank and to shut down the electric motor after running it to obtain water so that the electric motor does not keep running more than the requirement and the waste of electricity and water due to overflowing can be avoided.

On the occasion of World Water Day on March 22 [today], the WHO is convincing citizens and governments to use water carefully and economically.

In this context, it is very important to use underground water with a plan and to use sea and river water after treatment for drinking and other needs. The WHO has indicated that Pakistan is in 23rd place among those countries which will have a severe shortage of water in the next decade.

According to the WHO, the countries in which there is a severe shortage of water include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Arab Emirates, Palestine, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Oman, Kyrgyzstan and Iran.

In the awareness campaign regarding the lack of water reservoirs in these countries, citizens and responsible institutions are being convinced about the economical use of water, its importance and utility and preventing wastage.

Like any other country, if the water situation is examined in the country’s capital, where the central offices of the federal government and all related institutions are located, there is no long-term plan for water availability in Islamabad its twin city of Rawalpindi despite the increasing need for water among the growing population.

At present, apart from Rawal Dam and Khanpur Dam, which depend on rainwater, water supply through tube wells is feasible while the most important water supply project for Islamabad and Rawalpindi districts for over 100 years, the Ghazi Barotha Water Supply Project is still pending after being considered by many governments in the past.

The cost of the Ghazi Barotha project, which has suffered the longest delay, has now reached Rs90 billion. Its project concept-1 (PC-1) has been sent to the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) by the Capital Development Authority (CDA), the executing agency of the project.

In the first phase of the project, 200 million gallons of water will be available per day of which 100 million gallons per day (MGD) of water is to be provided to the CDA, 50 MGD to the WASA and 50 MGD to the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board.

The cost of the project has been divided among the three institutions according to their water supply share, under which the CDA will be responsible to pay Rs45 billion and the WASA and RCB will pay Rs22.50 billion each. In the second and third phases of the project, the daily supply is to reach 300 million gallons per day, but the project is still pending.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2023.