RAWALPINDI: A total of 120 cusecs of water is daily released from Khanpur Dam for supply to Rawalpindi and Islamabad but only 30 cusecs reach the Sangjani filtration plant due to theft and leakages on the 18-km-long waterway.

This forced the authorities concerned to curtail the share of water for the twin cities, creating a shortage, especially in Rawalpindi cantonment areas.

This information was shared with participants of a meeting held under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umer.

The meeting was attended by Rawalpindi Station Commander Brig Ijaz Qamar Kiani, Rawalpindi Cantonment Board Executive Officer Sibtain Raza, PTI leader Amir Mehmood Kiyani, CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed and senior officials from the federal, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments.

Out of 120 cusecs water released from reservoir only 30 cusecs reaches Sangjani filtration plant, meeting told

The minister constituted a joint committee with representation from all the relevant federal and provincial departments and directed it to take remedial actions and streamline the operation and maintenance activities.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Capital Development Authority (CDA) Affairs Ali Nawaz Awan will be convener of the committee while the Rawalpindi station commander and senior officials from Islamabad will be the members.

The meeting was informed that the cantonment areas were getting five million gallon daily (MGD) water from Khanpur Dam against the allocated quota of nine MGD.

The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) was getting four MGD against its quota of six MGD and Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) six MGD against its quota of 10 MGD.

The basic issue is the leakages and theft of water in the channel from Khanpur Dam to the Sangjani filtration plant.

The meeting considered a report by the prime minister’s special assistant on CDA affairs on the current status of water supply to Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

It was observed that the system was suffering from various issues due to the fact that responsibilities were dispersed across various federal and provincial departments.

The minister said ensuring supply of sufficient quality of water to the twin cities was a clear priority of the government and all-out efforts would be made to achieve the objective.

The meeting recommended establishing a telemetric system for monitoring of the discharge points.

The canal would be repaired to plug leakages. The concerned departments were asked to establish a special force to monitor the theft and leakages of the canal.

Cantonment officials informed the meeting that an ice factory and micro powerhouse were getting water from the canal without permission.

“At present, KP and Punjab irrigation departments are giving permission to different private outlets to use water which should be ended and it should be regulated through the federal government,” he said.

It was decided that a fresh hydrographic survey of raw water would be conducted so that an additional reservoir would be constructed at Sangjani.

It also asked the concerned department to replace effective equipment and motors at the Sangjani treatment plant and repair leakages in the distribution lines.

The capital administration said one underground water reservoir and five overhead tanks would be constructed at E-10.

Regarding the issue of pending payments of Wapda, the meeting referred the matter to the new committee.

Minister Asad Umar directed that work on Phase II of Khanpur Dam reservoir should be initiated at the earliest.

He said the government aimed at providing a sustainable solution to the water issue.

He said sufficient water sources were available around the twin cities but the water management system was weak and needed to be improved.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2020