Daily Times

KARACHI: Water level at Hub Dam raised by 18 inches on Thursday as first spell of current monsoon rains in parts of Balochistan and Sindh benefited in increasing the water level. Due to the raise, water level also crossed to the dead level, reaching to 276.50 reduced level, said WAPDA Project Director Tariq Khosa.

While talking to Daily Times, Khosa said, “Water level crossed the dead level by 0.25 reduced level of 276 dead level, also known as Zero Point ; it’s the first time since February that due to monsoon rains it happened in areas of Hub Dam during on-going week.”

Due to dry spell and absence of rainfall in the region, the rain-fed dam came to its dead level and there is an acute shortage of water in the areas including Karachi where water is supplied from the Hub Dam for the last couple of months.

Hub Dam is situated 56 kilometres North-East of Karachi in the districts of Sindh and Lasbela, Balochistan. The dam is an important source that provides drinking water to the provincial capital of Sindh.

The catchments of Hub Dam are downstream of Khuzdar and Pub Range of Balochistan and Khirthar Range of Sindh’s Dadu area. The dam which is built on the River Hub and is managed by Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) since 1981, with Sindh taking 76.3 percent of water share and Balochistan 33.7 percent.

“Recent rains have caused nominal increase of water in Hub Dam and so far rains have stopped in northern and southern parts of Balochistan. We are expecting more rains in days to come so that water level at Hub Dam would hopefully increase,” said Misbahuddin Farid, Managing Director of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB).

According to KWSB, recent rains in Balochistan did not cover much catchments of Hub Dam. KWSB MD Misbahuddin Farid said, “Current rise of water level in Hub Dam does not mean much for Karachi, however, if there were more rains in the area, than it could benefit Karachi.”

In order to control shortage, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah allowed KWSB in mid June to lift 25 million gallons of water per day (MGD) from Hub Dam for the next 25 days, which was at dead level so that water shortage of Karachi could be controlled.

However Misbah said KWSB stopped lifting the water as soon as rains started. “Following permission from Sindh chief minister, KWSB installed some suction pumps to lift water from the dam on experimental basis. But after lifting water for two days, rains started and therefore we stopped lifting water till date,” he added.