RAWALPINDI, Oct 31: Severe water shortage in Rawalpindi is a result of the wrong planning of the policy-makers during the political governments in the country.

This was stated by the managing director (MD) of Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), Rawalpindi, Yaseer Ahmed Gauhar, in an interview with Dawn here on Wednesday.

The Wasa MD said technically wrong sites were chosen for installation of tubewells on political considerations. Out of total 198 tubewells, about 89 were installed in localities of the choice of politicians and councillors during the governments of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, he said, adding, these sites were not suitable for installation of tubewells as water table was very low there. Therefore, the residents getting water from these tubewells, had been facing water shortage problems for the past few years, he added.

He said the politicians and councillors, affiliated with Pakistan Muslim League and Pakistan People’s Party, had compelled the Wasa authorities to dig up these wells according to their choice to get political mileage.

The water agency is operating 198 tubewells in different parts of the city out of which only 109 are functioning properly. The remaining tubewells were providing very little water and not catering to the needs of the people, Mr Gauhar said.

The MD rejected the idea that water shortage was due to faulty Wasa tubewells. He said only four tubewells were out of order at present. However, he said the machinery of almost all the tubewells was old and obsolete, resulting in frequent breakdowns. He said Wasa did not have resources to replace old machineries of the tubewells with the new ones.

About the present water situation, the MD said Wasa was getting 24 million gallons water per day — 18mgd from tubewells and 6mgd from Rawal Lake — against the total requirement of over 34mgd.

He said water shortage problem would be over after resumption of water supply from Khanpur Dam in April, next year. Wasa would get 14.6mgd water from the dam, he added. He said Wasa expected to get 7mgd water more in July, next year, after completion of Rawal Lake Filtration project.

About the complaints of a large number of residents of getting contaminated water due to wornout and rusty pipelines, the MD said some of the pipelines had been replaced while others were being repaired with the assistance of Asian Development Bank.