KOHAT: More and more people are going for deep machine boring here after losing hope to get water from the dried up wells for past two months.

The disruption in water supply from the water supply and sanitation company (WSSC) had also turned the shortage acute, especially in the KDA Town. Boring machines could be seen in every sector of the town having about 6,000 houses.

Realising gravity of the problem, MPA Ziaullah Bangash and MNA Shehryar Afridi visited several localities on Friday and assured the people that the problem of water supply by WSSC would be resolved soon.

WSSC official blames power outages for situation

When contacted, WSSC manager Mohsin Khan told this scribe on Thursday that the water shortage had occurred due to massive power loadshedding, as the tanks could not be filled to the desired level.

He explained that the minimum requirement was nine inches of water for release whereas it did not fill the storages beyond five to six inches and that’s why they were providing water once a day in the evening.

He admitted that due to absence of electricity they had to skip water supply for the whole day. He claimed that the Pesco was to blame for this situation as it had been providing electricity to tubewells for three hours only.

He said that they would be able to ensure supply of water in abundance if the duration of power outages was decreased.

Residents said that most of the bored wells have become muddy. Rehmat Elahi, a resident of cantonment, said that his bored well had become muddy due to some odd phenomena. He said that the recent rains had also not resulted in opening of springs in the wells.

A drilling company owner, Gul Agha, said that water surfaced at 22 feet in the city and then the drilling was further done at 70 feet for Rs26,000 in about two weeks. He said that the water of bored well became transparent after at least 20 days.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2017