RAWALPINDI: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has taken exception to the opening of Rawal Dam’s spillways by Small Dam Organisation (SDO) without taking the agency into confidence.

The SDO on Friday afternoon opened the spillways to drain out excess water in the lake.

Wasa believes the water level in the lake was still three feet below the flood level of 1,752 feet.

“The Rawal Dam authorities opened the spillways at 1,749 feet which was still three feet below the surplus level of water and wasted the water of the garrison city,” said Wasa Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood.

He said he had brought the matter to the notice of Commissioner Zahid Saeed on Saturday.

He said an explanation would be sought from the executive engineer of the SDO for wasting the precious water.

He said the catchment areas of the dam had not received enough rain as yet.

“The spillways are opened when the water level increased to 1,752 feet but the SDO officials opened it at 1,749 feet,” he said.

“The water should not have been released until the dam was filled to the capacity,” he said.

Rawal Dam supplies water to Rawalpindi city and cantonment areas after undergoing treatment at filtration plant.

The agency believes the water level in the dam was still three feet below the capacity level

He said Wasa was main stakeholder as it got 21 million gallon of water daily (MGD) from the dam, therefore it should have been consulted before releasing the water.

The Wasa managing director said the recent rains were not enough to fill the dam to its capacity.

“The Rawal Dam with capacity water level is enough for the Rawalpindi city and cantonment areas for next 10 months,” he said.

When contacted, Malik Mushtaq, the executive engineer at Rawal Dam, said that the spillways of the dam were opened to maintain the water level in the dam.

He agreed that the water had not touched the 1,752 feet mark but said they expected that more rains would increase the dam’s level in coming days.

“Had we opened the spillways during rain, it would have flooded the Korang Nullah and created problems for the people of adjoining areas,” he said.

He said it was the duty of SDO to maintain the water level in the dam and the release of extra water did not affect the daily supply to Rawalpindi city.

“Wasa is getting water as per its requirement and the release of water will not affect its share,” he said.

Published in Dawn March 8th , 2015

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