KARACHI: After three years of waiting for the Hub dam water level to rise and cross the 300-foot mark making water supply to Karachi possible from there, the level was measured to be at 305 feet on Tuesday.

The water is expected to rise further and engineers at the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) are optimistic that it could even reach 310 feet. The peak or spill level at the dam is 339 feet and the reservoir capacity happens to be 600,000-acre feet.

When filled to capacity, the Hub dam may supply water to Karachi for three years. The last time the dam filled to capacity was in 2013. After that it fell to dead level of 275.25. Things started looking up last year when the level rose again to 289 feet during monsoon. Still it couldn’t fill up to the desired level.

As a result of the recent increase in the level of water due to the recent rains, in June, July and August, especially in lower Sindh and the 250-kilometre radius around the dam’s right side falling in the Kirthar Mountain Range in Balochistan from where the water flows downwards, things are beginning to look up for Karachi, which can now expect 100 million gallons per day (MGD) for over one year.

The Hub dam used to be a major source of water supply to the city before the situation there grew from bad to worse. KWSB Chief Engineer, Bulk Water Supply, Sikandar Ali Zardari told Dawn that after reaching the spill level, 339ft, the dam also supplies around 33MGD to the Hub area in Balochistan.

Karachi already receives 500MGD to 550MGD from the Indus river. But due to no supply from the Hub dam for the last three years to supplement the population’s increasing need for water was giving rise to water theft by the tanker mafia as well as protests by the people facing a grave water shortage.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2016

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