KARACHI: Water supplies to the city, particularly Baldia Town, are likely to improve in the coming days as the level of Hub Dam has risen following recent rains in its catchment area.

“The dam’s level after hitting a dead point has risen from 276 feet to 282.9 feet. This will help increase supply from the dam to 15MGD [million gallons a day],” Rizwan Hyder representing the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) told Dawn, adding that the supply might further improve depending on rain in the dam’s catchment area.

The water supply situation has worsened in the city over the years with an increasing gap between demand and supply; the current water demand is 1,200MGD while the city receives between 500MGD and 550MGD from the Indus source (Keenjhar Lake).

Water supply from the Hub Dam, however, has been erratic due to drought conditions since the dam is entirely dependent on rain. Its catchment area is spread over 3,410 square miles and comprises areas along the Khirthar National Park (Dadu, Jamshoro and parts of Larkana districts), and the Pub range (Khuzdar and Lasbela districts).

According to Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) sources, the Hub Dam has a storage capacity of 687,000 acre-feet. Since its establishment in the 1980s, the dam has been hit by drought conditions five to six times. It was last filled to its optimum level in 2007. The respective shares of Sindh (53 per cent) and Balochistan (36.7pc) were finally slashed down to 40pc last November/December owing to falling water levels.

According to government data if the dam is filled to its maximum level of 339 feet, it can supply 100MGD and 59MGD to Karachi and parts of Balochistan respectively for two and a half years without interruption.

Supplies from the dam to the city were resumed last year after a gap of three years.

Experts blame the city’s chronic water crisis on the failure of the government in initiating water projects on time. It’s almost after a decade that the government has initiated work on K-IV that will supply 260MGD after its completion of phase one in two years.

Meanwhile, managing director KWSB Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi met a group of protesters demanding sufficient water supplies for Baldia Town.

According to a press release, Mr Zaidi informed the delegation that the chief minister is taking personal interest in the matter and that the provincial government has released Rs400m to improve water supplies to the area.

“The delegation was also briefed about other government efforts in addressing the water shortage situation in Baldia Town. These steps include work on laying a pipeline from Nazimabad to Baldia Town and establishing a new water pumping station in the locality,’ the press release says.

Mr Zaidi also addressed concerns over water theft and assured the delegation of action against offenders for which the utility was hiring 40 security guards, it added.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2017