The people of the Indian subcontinent already had systems for water supply in rural and urban areas in place before colonisation, but the system that many Rawalpindi residents continue to rely on today was introduced under the British.

The British army occupied Rawalpindi in 1849 and made the city the headquarters of the Northern Command in 1851. Because of its proximity to Kashmir and Afghanistan, the British paid the area significant attention and began to develop the city.

The British introduced a water supply system in Punjab’s urban areas and built canals for agricultural land after World War I. This would be the first time that an urban water supply system would supply water to homes through water lines. Before this, water was delivered to houses in cities by bhishtis and mashkis — men carrying water in animal hide bags.

Hailey Waterworks — commonly known as Kali Tanki and Chitti Tanki — on Saidpur Road was constructed in 1924 and became operational two years later, providing potable water to residents at their doorsteps.

The system was inaugurated by then Punjab governor Sir William Malcolm Hailey. The overall cost of the project, which included building the water tanks and the supply lines, was Rs644,000. The project belonged to the municipal committee, which was led by Malik Mohan Singh, and the engineer was A.R. Bromage.

The British initially brought the water line from Korang River near what is now Rawal Dam, where water was stored in a small cementedwater reservoir and supplied to underground tanks without any machinery through a 56-inch main line. The total area from Korang Nullah to Hailey Waterworks is 13 kilometres.

Built on 17 kanals of land, Hailey Waterworks has two underground tanks and an overhead reservoir. Each tank can store up to 300,000 gallons of water.

The system is in place in the old city area, stretching from Liaquat Road to Murree Road, Asghar Mall Road andresidential areas along Leh Nullah. The distribution consists of cast iron pipes of 75 millimetres to 300mm.

The overhead tank is made of steel plates. It sits more than 80 feet above ground according to the Water and Sanitation Agency’s (Wasa) records andit is still functional to supply water to residents of the garrison citydespite construction of more water reservoirs. Although the tank is still functional, there are now more reservoirs built to supply water.

The government began work in 1967 to improve the water supply system because the urban area had grown as Rawalpindiwasdeclared a temporary capital of the country and all government offices moved there from Karachi.

“In 1967, the Punjab Public Health Engineering Department constructed another water storagereservoir with an overhead water tank and four underground tankson 13 kanals of land to store water from Rawal Dam. That is called Waterworks II, commonly known as Chitti Tanki,” Wasa spokesperson Umer Farooq told Dawn.

He said Hailey Waterworks I is marked by the colour of the tank.

“In the past 74 years, the black overseas tank became the landmark of the area. The steel tank was painted black to protect it from rust,” he added.

Mr Farooq said the building and tanks were handed over to Wasa in 1998 by the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) but its adjoining assets, shops and quarters were still in the RMC’s possession.

Wasa Deputy Director Water Supply Asim Nazir told Dawn that both tanks have a storage capacity of more than eight million gallons and they serve 19 densely populated union councils in and around Raja Bazaar.

He said there was a plan to revive the old British-era line to acquire additional water from Rawal Dam. He said the pre-partition 56-inch water supply line could be used as water arrived from the dam through gravity and without machines.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2020