KARACHI, Oct 18: Water supply to the city from Hub dam was stopped on Friday after water in the reservoir touched the dead level.
With the discontinuation of supply, the sprawling townships of Orangi, Baldia, North Karachi, Surjani and Site (part) could face acute water shortage.
Although, the city government has taken alternative measures to meet the water requirements of the affected towns, the areas which have been getting scanty supply would further face acute water shortage, as supply from the Indus source would not be sufficient. This will lead to a situation which could be exploited by operators of water tankers.
City Nazim Naimatullah Khan told Dawn that about 43mgd (million gallons daily) water supply had been ensured from the Indus source, while within the next eight to ten days the supply would be increased by another 10mgd.
This assurance, he added, had been given by the KWSB chief, Brig Sardar Javed Ashraf, during a meeting two weeks ago to tape the alternative sources to meet water requirements of the city.
Besides, he said, in order to overcome the ongoing water shortage, various steps have been taken which include rehabilitation of the community water tanks in the affected areas, particularly in Orangi Town.
There were 300 Awami tanks from where water was being supplied to the people.
The current 1,500 trips per day of the tankers would also be increased to over 3,000 trips a day soon, which would help in meeting water shortage in the affected areas.
In reply to a question, the Nazim said whatever water had left in the dam was now being utilized to meet the requirements in district Lasbela. Water pumps have been installed to fetch water from its bottom which could be used for irrigation and drinking purposes in some areas in Balochistan, he added.
In the last week of Aug, the dam’s reservoir level had reached 280-50 feet after its catchment area received rains, raising the water level, which helped in restoration of water supply from the dam and it kept on decreasing as the city had been getting 0.1 million gallons water daily.
At present, the water level at the dam has reportedly come down to 227.70 RL, while its dead level is at 276.25 RL.
The decision to discontinue water supply from the dam was taken at a meeting held between the officials of Sindh and Balochistan irrigation departments, water board and Wapda on Wednesday.
The water supply to the city from the dam was earlier stopped in Dec 1999 when its catchment area went dry due to drought for over five years. However, when during the monsoon season in 2001 the catchment area received rains and the water level gone up to 15 feet, the supply was restored in Aug and since then water was being supplied to Lasbela and parts of Karachi.
The Hub dam, spreading over an area of 0.8 million hectares, started functioning in 1982 and till 1996 it had supplied 100mgd of water to Karachi and about 70mgd to Lasbela to meet drinking and irrigation water requirements.