Dry wells add to Potohar water woes

Over extraction of water from public and private tube wells across the Rawalpindi district has resulted in a falling underground water levels and shallow wells drying up. This has affected water supply, particularly in the Potohar Town, where a dozen densely-populated union councils (UCs), including those of Rahmatabad and Dhok Munshi, were facing acute water shortage.

Rahmatabad Union Council Chairman Taj Abbasi made these observations during a press conference where he said commercial tubewells owned by the government and tanker owners were responsible for the depleting water levels.

According to Abbasi, roughly 250,000 people lived in the UCs where water supply had been shut. “Women and children are forced to bring water from far-off areas,” he added.

He said water from tube wells was not being provided to residents and instead they were forced to buy water at higher prices from the ‘tanker mafia’.

He pointed out that water supply had been stopped in Rehmatabad Puri Abadi, Dhok Munshi, Dhok Kala Khan, Mazharabad, Palm City, Khayaban Sarfaraz, Jaba, New Afzal Town, Nasir Colony, Noorani Mohalla, Dhok Mai Sarwar, Dhok Kamal Deen and Katchi Abadi.

The public office holder also announced a protest outside the Water & Sanitation Agency (Wasa) office next week in which residents of the impacted localities would take part.

Numbers

According to details, there are 1,170 tube wells of government institutions in Rawalpindi district. Private tanker owners have 3,693 tubewells of private tanker owners.

Meanwhile, the cantonment boards of Rawalpindi and Chaklala have 420 tube wells.

The local district council has control of 250 tube wells, while the Water & Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has 500 tube wells.

Abbasi said that private owners extract millions of gallons of water daily from water hydrants and sell it the people who should have had the same water delivered in their localities.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2023.