Daily Times

Several areas of the provincial capital of Balochistan are facing acute water shortage due to the depleting groundwater level and interrupted supply from tube wells. According to an official of the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), the water supply from tube wells has fallen which was insufficient to meet the demand.

“The city needs about 60 million gallons of water per day. However, it is supplied with only 35 million gallons daily,” he informed. Presently, water is being supplied to the city by 450-500 tube wells which were insufficient to meet the requisite demand,” he said, adding that the government had proposed to install more tub wells in the city to overcome the water shortage issue.

Moreover, the water woes of the three million population of Quetta were worsening with each passing day as the underground water level had further declined to over 300 metres, while the government had been working to stop the illegal drilling of tube-wells in the city. He said that the construction of Halab, Mangi, Burjul Aziz dams was the only source of recharging the aquifer of Quetta. Utilizing all resources, proper measures had been taken to keep all tube wells in the city operational so that the citizens would get water on scheduled times.

He said the “tanker mafia” was operating some thousands of commercial tube wells in different areas of Quetta due to which water reserves had come under intense pressure. He said the government would enforce the groundwater extraction rules to discourage the water-selling mafia to mint money and heavy fine would be imposed on the law violators.