Summer woes: No end to water shortages

Load-shedding blamed for low water supply.

ISLAMABAD:

The capital’s civic agency has failed to overcome water shortages in several sectors of the city as the mercury level has risen in recent weeks.

As demand for water has gone up during the scorching summer, many residents have complained that the civic authority supplies water for only half an hour a day. Inhabitants of various areas are facing difficulties in coping with the unreliable water supply.

Residents of sectors F-6/1, G-7/3, G-6/1 and I-9 have become dependant on water tankers for supply. They said various houses in these sectors are not getting enough water supplies and demanded that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) should take steps to ensure water supply to each and every household.

Basharat Ali, a resident of Sector F-6/1, said he has been facing water shortage for the past two weeks and is forced to buy water from tankers at exorbitant rates. He said residents of the area have submitted numerous applications to the concerned department but to little avail.

An official of the CDA’s water management wing said water consumption increases manifold during the summer. He also blamed erratic electricity load-shedding and wastage of water by residents for the acute shortage.

He said the relevant department has been directed to repair and maintain water tankers, tube-wells and water filtration plants. Talking to APP, Ashfaq Ahmed and Aqib Rehman, residents of Sector G-6, said they have lodged several complaints with the civic body but the CDA enquiry officers never responded.

The residents hoped the new government will take measures to reduce load-shedding which will help improve water supply in slamabad.

Many people talking to APP demanded that the civic body fix the broken water supply pipelines which are resulting in the wastage of a huge amount of water every day. A pipeline at Zero Point has been lying broken for the past several months and the leakage is not only wasting water but also damaging the roads, said a resident.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2014.