SKARDU, May 20: Skardu is expected to face a major scarcity of drinking and irrigation water in the days to come due to the weather conditions.

Though sufficient snow had fallen during last winter, due to cloudy weather the snow has not properly melted. The water level in Sadpara Lake has severely declined. The residents of Skardu are much perturbed because of the acute shortage of drinking and irrigation water. In a number of neighbouring villages, crops and trees have badly been affected by scarcity of water.

A study conducted by Dawn shows that the people in Chumick, Jaffery Mohala, Sundus, Kushmara, Astana etc were the worst affected. Owing to the shortage of water, some people in these villages were so disappointed that they harvested their crops of wheat, barley and vegetable before maturity to use as fodder.— Correspondent