ABBOTABAD, July 19: Nathiagali is experiencing an acute water shortage and the situation is getting worse with the swelling number of tourists in the Galiyat, local residents told this correspondent on Friday.

Urging authorities concerned to solve the problem on a priority basis, hotel and restaurant owners expressed the fear that if steps were not taken immediately, they would lose tourists to areas with better facilities like Murree.

They said that their business was being affected by the shortage of water, adding that the number of tourists had increased to about four times against the number of visitors during the previous years.

They said that their livelihood depended on the tourist season, which lasts between July 1 and Aug 31.

Among others visiting Nathiagali this season are the NWFP governor and a large number of senior bureaucrats and politicians.