A strange tug of war is continuing between Rangers and Water and Sanitation Department of City Government (WSD-CDGK).
The Rangers are reported to have asked the WSD to take charge of the hydrants in a step by step manner. The WSD has failed to come up with a befitting response to the impending issue. Finally, on 27 May 2005, it was decided that the status quo shall be maintained. The Rangers will continue to manage the hydrants till further orders – a task they have been shouldering since 1999. The crisis has exposed the lack of capacity, foresight and planning of the concerned department of the CDGK to take cognizance of the situation before hand.
Now that the crisis has risen to a monstrous scale, piece meal attempts are made on a fire fighting basis. Few analysts believe that CDGK has applied political caution for delaying the take over of hydrants. If the WSD-CDGK would takeover hydrants, it shall have to bear all the criticism for any fault in the supply management. As local government elections are round the corner, the regime at CDGK does not deem it politically appropriate to lose supporters due to mismanagement of tanker supply issues.
Issues related to water supply service need to be reviewed in the large perspective of city planning, development and management.
Karachi is unique in terms of its water supply service. Bulk of the water is brought to the city through a massive conveyance system from a source which is more than 125 km away from the city limits. At present, the city receives supply from Indus/Kalri (Keenjhar) and Hub sources.
According to many studies, the present demand stands at 828 million gallons per day (mgd) as against an aggregated supply of 490 mgd which keeps fluctuating. A mega project of adding 100 mgd water to the city from Indus source is under construction. It may take a year to become operational. Analysis of the situation shows that difference between demand and supply shall remain due to rising population and changing consumption patterns.
A vast section of underground infrastructure of water supply has already crossed its designed life. Its operational capacity is decreasing. There exists a large scale leakage at different stages of the supply. Water leakages exist at the scale of bulk supply lines, secondary and also tertiary lines. According to a former Managing Director of KWSB (now restructured to become WSD), the total water losses amounted to 35 percent.
While the WSD has initiated a few supply loss reduction projects, the results are yet to be seen. Water thefts are also a regular feature in the services. From organised thefts to petty extraction by breaking water lines, many types of illegal activities are found to exist on a regular basis. Obviously these practices can not survive without the connivance of local staff of WSD.
Water vending, which is a vital source of supply to many urban localities, takes place in many forms and formats. At the WSD-designated hydrants, the formally registered tanker contractors are allowed to draw water according to prescribed conditions. Normally the water complaints are redressed by sending tankers on a ‘gratis’ basis to low income settlements. The tanker operator is given the incentive to sell half of the water quota at market rates.
According to the President of Karachi Water Tanker Association, over 50,000 tanker trips are undertaken by the tankers to different areas of the city.
This operation accounts for about one tenth of the total demand. Other than official tankers, water supply is also facilitated through illegal hydrants dealt and developed by the people themselves. Quality of water is below the desirable level of consumption in this case. A sub urban illegal hydrant is operating in Sakran on the western fringe of Karachi. Residents of Orangi and Baldia have to rely on this source due to gross unavailability of water from city hydrants. However this water is hazardous for health and absolutely unfit for drinking.
Public health is greatly affected by the use of such water options. Loss of water pressure in the pipe lines is another main issue. The tail end (or remotely located) users are the worst sufferers due to loss of pressure. It is a norm that consumers install heavy duty suction pumps on the lines through their connections. Thus water is drawn beyond the proportioned quota by those users who are locationally advantaged. While installation of suction pump is an illegal practice, the issue is not dealt by the concerned authorities according to its gravity.
The CDGK has been trying to close down the hydrants and intends to use only a few of them on an emergency basis. Justification to this approach is that the overall availability of water for piped supply would improve after closure of hydrants. It is also assumed that the supply pressure in the piped network would improve. This is a completely flawed assumption and may have grave consequences on several southern localities such as Lyari.
Firstly, not all the consumer households are connected to a piped source. They need some form of a basic supply for survival. Secondly, the amount of water distribution through the hydrants is a fraction of the total water supply. By disconnecting the hydrants, no worthwhile addition would be made to the total quantity of water. And thirdly, the state of operation and repairs of some underground pipelines is extremely dismal. They cannot be relied upon for a satisfactory level of service. Lalazar, Clifton Saddar, few eastern blocks of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Lyari, Baldia and similar sub urban localities rely heavily on water vending. Without properly assessing the situation, the crisis may be aggravated to high proportions.
Water supply is a crucial service which needs serious consideration. There are several matters which must be addressed without further delay. A comprehensive survey must be carried out for all the underground and on-ground infrastructure. This survey should be devised to inform about the status of infrastructure, its performance capabilities and defects/short comings. This survey may be organized at the level of Union Councils and Towns to ensure an effective coverage.
On the basis of this study, development projects may be prepared in an integrated manner. The planning for such projects must also take into account the issues related to changing land use, densities and occupancy profiles. The issue of hydrants must be revisited.
A need analysis maybe done at the town level to outline the comparison between piped and non-piped supply. This form of study may generate the much needed thresholds for upgrading and enhancing piped network as well as the actual justification of hydrants. If at all the hydrants are to continue, they must be decentralized to reduce transportation costs and resulting road hazards generated through them.
The illegal hydrants must be sealed and strict check must be exercised on their activities. Contaminated water is a source of diseases that may even lead to fatalities. Water quality checks are also vital to be carried out by the WSD to ascertain that contaminants are removed effectively. At a later stage, water use profiles may be prepared. This may help in focusing and providing ordinary supply for domestic uses.
Recycled water may be generated in sufficient quantities that could be used for landscaping and gardening purposes. It must be remembered that water demand shall continue to rise against the finite water sources. If strategic approaches for demand management are developed and applied, they may lead to a sustainable utilisation of existing water quantities for extended time periods.