As the summer starts, residents of Rawalpindi city and cantonment areas are worried to suffer another spell of water scarcity as mushroom growth of housing societies and rising population continue to exert extra pressure on this precious resource.
Despite repeated claims of the civic agencies masters to ensure smooth water supply – water shortage and water rationing continues leaving consumers on the mercy of growing tanker mafia.
Name any area of the city including Shah Nazar, Dhok Chiragh Din, Dhok Hassu, Ratta Amral, Dhok Ratta, Pir Wadhai and many other areas, you will find residents claiming of water scarcity or water rationing, with supply and demand gap widening during summer.
No matter that civic agencies remain on their toes during the peak season to meet the water needs of residents, but for them there are also unavoidable challenges like water availability, construction of new reservoirs and ample funding.
Managing Director (MD) Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) Muhammad Saleem Ashraf states that the Garrison City needs total water supply of around 51 Million Gallons Daily (MGD) in winter that is met through 480 tube-wells, Rawal Dam and Khanpur Dam. “But, during summer this demand rises to 70 MGD. So if the shortfall is around 7 MGD in winter, it rises to around 19 MGD in summer.”
Saleem said it is understood that water demand increases during summer and “we employ all resources to ensure that consumers’ problems are addressed.”
In this regard, he mentioned to ongoing work on a project names “Developing Resilient Environment and Advancing Municipal Services (DREAMS-I)” project, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
“The project’s overall scope involves treatment and transportation of 14.5 MGD water from Chahan Dam to Rawalpindi city, besides improvement and replacement of city’s existing water supply system,” he said.
Saleem also referred to rehabilitation and up-gradation of Rawal Lake filtration plants to supply additional five MGD water to the Garrison City. “Similarly, two new heavy pumps were being installed at Khanpur Dam to increase water supply to eight MGD and provide 24/7 water supply to consumers.”
He said the DREAMS project will be completed in two years instead of stipulated period of three years while work on Chahan Dam treatment plant has also been kicked off and is expected to provide 10 MGD water to residents. “Moreover, feasibility study for Dadhocha Dam has been included in Punjab Annual Development Plan and would hopefully provide 30.5 MGD to Pindites.”
However, he was skeptical of consumers’ behavior who least bother about water conservation practices. Therefore, the Punjab government had banned setting up of new car washing stations across the province.
In compliance with the orders of Lahore High Court , the Punjab Environmental Agency (EPA) had imposed a ban on non-essential use of underground water and violators, including service stations, would be penalized accordingly.
The situation is also not different in cantonment areas as Chief Executive Officer of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) Syed Ali Rizvi complains of non-cooperative attitude of consumers.
“The RCB provides some 1.50 MGD water to its residents from 55 tubewells, 11.28 MGD from the Khanpur Dam and 0.03 MGD from the Rawal Dam,” he said. “But, even if there is less water available at source, we desire the residents of understand this problem and cooperate with civic agencies.”
He said the RCB’s distribution network includes eight overhead reservoirs and 34 underground tanks. “The Board provides clean drinking water to the people through 52 filtration plants.”
Member National Assembly from Rawalpindi, Malik Ibrar Ahmed also talked of constructing modern underground tanks with a capacity to store one MGD water. “The project has entered final stage and would provide a lasting solution to longstanding water shortage in RCB areas.”
He said every year during summer, the residents of Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment face severe water shortages. “WE are ensuring early release of allocated funds for timely completion of these projects to ensure sufficient water supply for residents.
“Construction of underground tanks at Bhata Chowk, with a storage capacity of 200,000 gallons per day and Gawalmandi, with a capacity of 100,000 gallons per day, was progressing fast,” the MNA said.
Additionally, he said, projects were also underway at Naseerabad, Barf Khana Chowk, Ghazi Abad, Afshan Colony, Tench Bhatta, Tahli Mohri, and Wards 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Chaklala Cantonment with each designed to store 50,000 gallons daily.
He also informed that an amount of Rs 85 million was being spent to lay new water supply and sewerage lines to improve both the water distribution and drainage systems.
The Rawalpindi city has been a major destination of people migrating from across the country due to its geographical location linked with the Federal Capital which has been persistently increasing the water demand.
Therefore, for addressing this chronic problem, the authorities require to adopt a multi-faceted approach to expanding water storage capacity through dams and reservoirs, improving water distribution networks, promoting water conservation measures, and addressing issues like tanker mafia and infrastructure maintenance.