ISLAMABAD: Building new dams is the only feasible solution for the worsening water shortage in the capital, members of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) said on Tuesday.

At an MCI session chaired by Deputy Mayor Azam Khan at the Pak-China Friendship Centre, treasury and opposition members cautioned that that Islamabad would become known as an acutely water scarce city if steps are not taken.

The session was held in light of a Supreme Court directive under which a committee was formed to finalise suggestions to handle the water shortage in the capital. Suggestions were sought from MCI members, who face the city’s population directly. The most common suggestion was to construct new dams.

Treasury, opposition members call for installing more tubewells, water tankers for each UC

“Small dams, check dams and rubber dams need to be constructed in Islamabad. New dams could be built in areas such as Bhara Kahu, Shahdhra and in parts of the Margalla Hills,” said Pindbagwal union council chairman Qaiser Ghaffar.

Mr Ghaffar also mentioned the stalled Chirah dam project, under which a dam was to be constructed on the Soan River near Chirah village with a capacity for 15 million gallons a day (MGD) of water to be equally shared between Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The project was approved in 2009 as a joint venture of the Punjab government and the Capital Development Agency (CDA), with the former being the executing agency. The relevant authorities have yet to buy land for the project, which had an estimated cost of Rs5.3 billion and was to be completed by 2013.

PML-N Deputy Mayor Syed Zeeshan Naqvi said six rubber dams needed to be set up in the Margalla Hills to store rainwater, a project that could be started with a little attention from the government.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf opposition leader Ali Awan suggested devolving the water directorate at the union council level and deploying two water tankers in each union council which would be at the disposal of local government representatives.

“It is a matter of concern that in the last two and a half years, only two new tubewells have been installed in Islamabad,” he said, adding that two new tubewells need to be installed in each union council.

Rawat union council chairman Azhar Mehmood said the rural area from Soan to Rawat depends on tubewells for water, but housing societies – in connivance with the CDA and other government organisations – had contaminated the Soan River with sewage which was also affecting underground water sources.

He said some housing developments had also encroached on Soan River land. “My suggestion is that action should be taken against these housing societies,” he said.

In the short-term, members demanded the installation of two tubewells in each union council and two water tankers at each union councils’ disposal.

They also demanded repairs to rusting pipelines and conduction lines to conserve water, saying that around 30pc of water is wasted before reaching the reservoir to then by supplied to the public.

Sardar Mehtab, the union council chairman for I-9, blamed junior employees of the water directorate for the water shortage, claiming that water directorate staff were patronising illegal connections and water theft.

Chief Metropolitan Officer Syed Najaf Iqbal told MCI members that their suggestions would be submitted to the SC’s committee.

He said efforts were being made to obtain a Rs1.6bn grant from the caretaker prime minister to resolve the water shortage.

“If we receive funds, we will try to give at least one water tanker to each union council, and we will install 30 new tubewells in various union councils,” he said. Mr Iqbal added that the funds would also spent on repairing and maintaining water lines and efforts would be made to begin the Chirah dam project in addition to exploring options for small dams.

Residents of the capital currently receive 55 to 60MGD from the MCI, against a demand of 110MGD in the urban areas.

The MCI does not supply water to the rural areas, which require over 100MGD, leading residents to rely on boring or on old water supply schemes launched by the Islamabad Capital Territory administration.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2018