Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: A threat of scarcity of water might hit the thickly populated vicinities of Rawalpindi as Islamabad has cut down the share of three million gallons per day water coming from Khanpur Dam for its twin city. To cater to the needs of dwellers of the federal capital, the CDA decided to reduce half the quota of water that both Islamabad and Rawalpindi are taking from Khanpur Dam through pipelines. But this would create acute shortage of water in that part of Rawalpindi city, which falls under the jurisdiction of the mayor. The demand of Rawal Town of Rawalpindi city is 55 million gallons per day out of which some 38 MGD water is supplied through tube wells installed in different areas of the city, 10 million per day of water comes from Rawalpindi and the city gets some six million gallons per day water from Khanpur Dam. The remaining portion of water is supplied through WASA. Due to preventing the supply by the CDA without any prior consultation with the Rawalpindi administration, shortage of water has surfaced in the localities of Sadiqabad, Muslim Town, Pir Wadhai, Satellite Town and other areas of the city, where the situation can turn into an intense crisis in the summer season. Deputy Director WASA Umer told Daily Times that Rawalpindi was already getting less water from its quota and now the CDA after decreasing its share the problem could be deepened more. He said that however WASA was devising a plan to supply the additional water to the citizens by making unusable tube wells active and increasing their operational timings.