ISLAMABAD, Aug 25: The number of complaints about water shortage has increased by 100 per cent in the federal capital as a total of 400 complaints are being received every day since the start of water rationing.

“Before water rationing started on August 22, about 200 complaints were received in a day,” a source in the water supply directorate told Dawn on Monday.

The CDA is reportedly supplying water on alternate days to utilize the existing reserves in the next six to seven months, he added.

The source said the authority could not entertain all 400 complaints in a day, thus more than 50 per cent remained unattended.

He said the CDA directorate of Machine Pool Organization (MPO) had been asked to repair all out of order tankers to improve water tanker service. He said the authority had not officially announced that it had started rationing in Islamabad as a result of which people were not mentally prepared about the shortage.

When contacted, the authority’s director general services, Jehanzeb Khan, denied that rationing had been started in the capital. However, he agreed that shortage was being experienced in the city due to some other reasons. He said the situation would become normal within the next four days.

The official said the CDA had reduced water supply by 13 million gallons per day (MGD) due to inadequate rains in the catchment areas of Simly Dam.