RAWALPINDI: The supply of water from Khanpur Dam to Rawalpindi city and the cantonment areas has been reduced due to a decrease in the dam’s water level.

The supply of water to Rawalpindi city was reduced from six million gallons daily (MGD) to 3MGD and that to the cantonment area was reduced from 8MGD to 4MGD, leading to a shortage of water in many localities.

Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood told Dawn the decrease in water supply had created problems for the agency, which was already getting less that the sanctioned quota of water from Khanpur Dam.

He explained that according to the quota, Rawalpindi city was to get 14.6MGD of supply and was getting 6MGD, which has now been reduced to 3MGD. He said the agency supplies water to its consumers via water tanks.

Decision to halve supply made after water level in the dam decreased

“The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is managing the supply of water from the dam to Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Wasa asked the CDA chairman to increase the supply of water from the dam or the agency will have to start rationing water,” he added.

Wasa supplies water from the Khanpur Dam to Pirwadhai, Dhoke Mangtal, Shamsabad, Saddiqabad, Muslim Town, Iqbal Town and adjoining areas where residents have made complaints about the short supply of water.

“It has been two days since we got water and if this is the situation in the winters, one can imagine what will happen in the summers,” said Zeeshan Haider, a resident of Shamsabad.

A Pirwadhai local, Mohammad Mazhar suggested Wasa install a tube well in the area to ensure an uninterrupted supply of water. He said residents now had to fill water bottles from the adjoining I-10 sector.

He said complaints had been lodged with Wasa, where officials said they were not able to resolve the issue as the supply of water from Khanpur Dam to the city areas had been reduced.

The Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) is facing an even bigger problem as its gets its supply from Khanpur Dam from the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) which has further reduced supply.

“We were already getting less water and now the RCB has further reduced supply to 50,000 gallons a day. We raised the issue with the RCB, but it did not listen,” said CCB Vice President Raja Irfan Imtiaz.

Talking to Dawn, he said the CCB had repeatedly called for the completion of the Khanpur Dam Water Supply Project Phase III, under which overhead and underground water tanks were to be constructed.

He said that if these tanks were made functional and used to store water, water will be available to meet the requirement for 15 days to a month at least.

RCB spokesperson Qaiser Mehmood told Dawn that the RCB had to supply water in water tanks after the CDA decreased the supply of water to the Cantt areas. He said water from tube wells were being supplied to colonies by running them over time.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2017