RAWALPINDI, Dec 8: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) plans to install six filtration plants in its areas to provide clean drinking water to the residents, official sources told Dawn.

Sites for the installation of the plants have been chosen and feasibility studies are being carried out. The proposed localities include Gawalmandi, Chaklala Scheme-III, Alif Shah Graveyard, Westridge, Tench Bhatta, Lalazar, Dheri Hassanabad and Tahli Mohri.

Similarly, installation of six new tubewells has also been included in the budgetary allocation for the financial year 2001- 2002.

Moreover, four tubewells, one each at Gawalmandi, Allama Iqbal Colony, Chamanabad and Naseerabad Bokra, have already been installed.

At present, the RCB operates 74 tubewells, while 37 have been refurbished to improve supply.

The civic body has also started laying new water pipelines in Chamanabad, Azizabad and Misrial Road. Old and rusty pipelines in Gawalmandi, Saddar, Chaklala-3, Nisar Road, Zakria Road, Dheri Hassanabad, Allama Iqbal Colony and Tahli Mori have already been replaced.

For storage, two underground water tanks — one at Gawalmandi with a storage capacity of 0.2 million gallons and the other at Azizabad with a capacity of 50,000 gallons — have also been completed.

However, the cantonment’s station commander, Brig Hamid Khalil, says underground water level is decreasing, hence they are trying to minimise reliance on tubewells. For this purpose, the Khanpur Dam scheme has been launched to overcome water shortage.

Phase-I of the project has been completed in four months and now only minor work remains which, the RCB hopes, will be completed shortly.

The second phase of the project has also been approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) and Rs510 million have been allocated for it.