RAWALPINDI: As the water level in Rawal Dam has reduced, there is still enough water to cater to the needs of the residents in the garrison city for the next five months.

Water level in Rawal Lake reduced during last month due to less rains in the region. Even though rain lashed the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, less water arrived in the lake from catchment areas.

Rawal Dam Superintendent Engineer Arsalan Ahmed told Dawn that there would be no shortage of water for the next five months while the coming monsoon will improve the water situation for city areas.

He said that water level in Rawal Lake was 1,744 feet while spillways were opened when the water level increased to 1,752 feet, adding that water storage was better and supply will continue towards Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) without any hurdle.

Rawal Dam is supplying 28 million gallons daily (MGD) of water to Rawalpindi city and Cantonment areas through Rawal Filtration plant after cleaning it. At present, the daily requirement of water in the garrison city is 60 MGD but the agency provides 54 MGD and there was shortage of six MGD.

There are three main sources of water for Rawalpindi city - Rawal Dam which provides 28 MGD, Khanpur Dam which provides six MGD and the remaining water is supplied through 420 tubewells. So Rawal Dam remains to be a major source of water.

As many as 61 union councils of Rawalpindi are supplied water from Rawal Dam. Pakistan Army, Pakistan Railways and other military organisations also rely on water from the dam.

Wasa spokesman Mohammad Umer Farooq said the agency was getting water from the Rawal lake as per routine and there was no shortage. However, he said that the agency was working on getting more water from Rawal Lake after starting its new project for reconstruction of its old line soon.

On the other hand, as per the Met Office, there will be no rain in the coming days.

“The day temperature will rise further in the coming days as there is no chance of rain during the next one week,” said an official of the department.

He said continental air is prevailing over most parts of the country. He said dry weather was expected in most parts of the country and it will remain hot in central/southern parts during day time. However, light rain-wind thunderstorm is expected at isolated places in northeastern Balochistan.

In the twin cities, the maximum temperature was recorded at 33C which is likely rise further in the next 24 hours.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2023