RAWALPINDI: There is enough water in the Rawal and Khanpur dams to meet the city’s water requirements for the next eight months, Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood said on Sunday.

Rawalpindi city receives water from both dams and 421 tubewells. There is currently 1,750.5 feet of water in Rawal Dam and 1,954ft of water in Khanpur Dam – enough water to last until September.

Mr Mehmood said the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board receives 9 million gallons of water daily (MGD) Khanpur, Wasa receives 6 MGD and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) receives 10 MGD.

The twin cities are supplied a total of 25 MGD.

He added that more rainfall in the coming days will only increase the water level further, and the upcoming monsoon will improve the water situation in the city areas as well.

The agency has also been paying attention to improving the city’s water distribution system, he said, and has finished replacing old and rusting water lines. New connections are being provided to consumers, which will reduce the chances of contaminated water.

The agency has chalked out a comprehensive plan to overcome the water shortage in the city, he said. Wasa has water bowsers, a water district system in Commercial Market, Satellite Town, to register water complaints and resolve them and emergency repair teams to replace and repair leaks in water lines.

He believed more dams needed to be built in and around the city to overcome the water shortage, adding that while recent rainfall had increased the level of water in reservoirs, groundwater had not been recharged.

“The excessive drawing of water through tube wells causes groundwater to recede. There is need to install recharging wells in and around the city.

“The mushrooming of urbanisation in and around the garrison city is responsible for the receding underground water level,” he said.

Dredging Leh Nullah

Mr Mehmood said Wasa has a plan to clean Leh Nullah and has sought Rs25 million in financial assistance. However, he said, if the Leh Nullah project begins before the monsoon, Wasa will devise another plan.

He added that the Leh Nullah Expressway and Flood Channel project will likely solve flooding during the monsoon.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2019