KARACHI, July 4: The Sindh government has decided to undertake a feasibility study for a new route of water supply to Karachi from Keenjhar lake via Nooriabad.

The study was to be completed in a year’s time at a cost of Rs2 million, and the government had set aside the money needed for the purpose in the 2002-3 budget. After the study would be completed, the government would approach the federal government for funding the project, sources in the planning & development department told PPI on Thursday.

The decision to carry out a feasibility study has been taken to find a new route to supply drinking water to Karachi, which is not getting the needed quantity of water. There is a big gap between supply and demand. At present there are three sources of water supply to Karachi — Damlotti wells which supply only 10 million gallons daily water, and the River Indus through Keenjhar lake and the Hub dam. Since the Hub dam had dried up because of persistent drought and the absence of rain for the past five years, now the only major source of water supply to the city is the Indus.

The total demand of water for Karachi has been estimated at 1,200mgd.

According to official figures, the city now receives 452mgd, but the sources said the unofficial figure for water supply to the city was 900mgd. Even if the unofficial figure was correct, it was much less than the requirement, the sources said, adding that after completion of an additional 100mgd water project, being executed with the help of the World Bank, officially water supply would increase to 552mgd.

The worst affected areas of the city due to short supply were North Karachi, Manghopir and other localities of the former district West, which received water via Sohrab Goth through the University Road link. The ongoing 100mgd water supply project was aimed at meeting shortages in western parts of the city, but the planners think that even the completion of this project would not entirely solve the water shortage problem because of the fast-increasing population, the sources said.

Experts had pointed out to the government that the banks of the KB Feeder, which carried water from the Indus to Keenjhar lake, had become weak resulting in leakages. Moreover, the KB Feeder and Keenjhar lake needed desiltation and the banks of the lake to be raised up to four feet to enhance the discharge capacity of the feeder and the storage capacity of the lake. If these steps were not taken, the existing system would not be able to supply additional water to Karachi, the sources said.

The sources said the new route from Keenjhar via Nooriabad would supply water to Karachi along Super Highway crossing Sari and Hundi areas and ending somewhere in Manghopir area. The alternative route would also solve the water shortage problem at the Nooriabad Industrial Area.

—PPI