Water woes: Waterless in the capital’s backyard

Lack of schemes and planning aggravating crisis in the rural areas.

ISLAMABAD: Lack of effective water supply system in the rural areas of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) has been a concern for the locals for a long time. Poor management, lack of planning and non-implementation of projects has aggravated the situation and worsened the water crisis in these localities.

Officials of the city administration, on condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that residents of all 12 union councils (including Sohan, Bhara Kahu, Koral, Tarlai and Rawat) of the rural areas were facing acute water shortage due to lack of proper planning and implementation of schemes.

Explaining the “apathetic attitude” of the city managers, the officials said that surveys conducted in the past and the subsequent plans drafted, were usually shelved or the projects were left incomplete. “These areas have been ignored for a long time now,” said an official.

Similarly work on various water schemes in the past has been stalled or abandoned due to paucity of funds. The projects that do get completed, do not do much for the locals either.

“The completed projects usually become ineffectiveness due to lack of maintenance. The water filters are not cleaned and some have even stopped providing water,” said Niaz, a local.

Earlier, the district administration had conducted a satellite survey in collaboration with a private Japanese company in 1980. “The result of that survey was neither considered nor was the increase in population taken into account while drafting new schemes for these areas,” an official said.

Moreover many of the water schemes that were started for storage and supply of water in these areas turned out to be dysfunctional.

Official sources said that the administration had also rejected the Survey of Pakistan, a Rs50 million project that would have helped determine the level of underground water in the rural areas.

Similarly, the city managers also remained unsuccessful in implementing the Simli Dam project, which would have helped store water for Union Council Bhara Kahu.

The residents, while talking to The Express Tribune, complained that they were facing scarcity of water since long and the supply remained suspended for many hours in a day.

“The issue has been brought up many times in the past as well, but no serious action has been taken to address it,” said Haroon, a resident of Bhara Kahu.

When contacted, District Coordination Officer Amir Ahmad said that the administration has drafted a plan to start work on five schemes for the supply of water, which would benefit five union councils. In reply to a query, the officer said that 65 schemes had been completed since 1980.

He added, “A survey to determine the water resources [in the rural areas] will also be conducted soon.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2010.