May 10, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, May 9: The city is receiving 29 million gallons of water per day (MGD) against the requirement of 35 MGD, sources told this reporter here on Thursday.

Different sources of water for the city are: Rawal Lake (8 MGD), Khanpur Dam 3 MGD and tubewells (18 MGD). The consumers are not receiving 29 million gallons of water, as it does not include line losses and theft.

It may be recalled that the local political leaders had earlier this year claimed that the total supply would be increased by 21.6 MGD because of completion of refurbishment of water filtration beds, which were to give an additional yield of 7 MGD, and commissioning of 19-kilometre-long Tomar-Rawalpindi Conductance Main, which they said, would be carrying 14.6 MGD. Both the projects have been completed at a cost of Rs655 million.

A comparison of this year’s figures with those of last year reveals that contrary to the claims of the political leaders, the actual increase in the supply was only 7 MGD. This should have at least curtailed the deficit gap to a maximum of 2 MGD, but that could not actually happen.

Delving further into the issue shows that water supply this year compared to the corresponding period last year from Rawal Dam has increased by 2 MGD, Khanpur Dam yield has gone up by 1 MGD and that of tubewells has risen by 3 MGD.

Another issue of interest is that the 3 MGD increase in yield of tubewells has been possible through drilling of 11 new tubewells.

The Asian Development Bank water experts had in the past expressed their reservations about the policy of drilling new wells on political considerations. The officials of Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) claim that the situation is because of increase in population and enhancement in commercial activities. They further say the yield from Khanpur Dam is far below the expectations.

Another crucial factor relating to water shortage in the city is that a majority of these tubewells are not yielding to their full capacity, as the city’s water table is lowering gradually. The ground water level has gone down by almost 15 feet. It is as low as 225 feet in certain areas as compared to 50 feet in mid- eighties.

There are at least 18 declared wells which are yielding much below their capacity. In view of this situation, WASA has curtailed the timings of the tubewells.