RAWALPINDI, May 6: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) will sink 12 more tubewells by the end of this month to overcome acute water shortage.

Talking to APP here on Saturday, Wasa Deputy Director Administration Abdullah Qamar said boring and piping of nine tubewells had already been completed, while work on remaining tubewells was in progress.

He said, by the end of this month, the tubewells would be made operational.

Mr Qamar said six out of eight tubewells located in national park area of Soan had been made operational in the start of current month.

These tubewells provide 2.3 million gallons water per day to Rawalpindi city. Wasa has already conducted laboratory tests on water taken from these tubewells and declared it safe for drinking.

Water supply from Rawal and Khanpur dams to the city has been reduced due to water shortage, and to overcome this problem Wasa opted for boring new tubewells and making the existing ones operational.

He said the agency would bore 29 new tubewells this year besides renovating 30 existing ones to provide potable water to the people.

Our reporter adds: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has finally urged the public to make judicious use of water to cope with the looming water crisis.

Wasa Managing Director Brig Noorul Hassan, in a statement issued here on Saturday, advised the public to avoid wasting water by using it for cleaning and watering purposes.

He said consumers having illegal water connections would be fined besides facing disconnection of supply.

It may be mentioned here that currently 9,000 acre feet water was available at Rawal Dam which had the total capacity of 39,000 acre feet. The available water could meet the demand for the next 59 days.