Islamabad: Acute water shortage likely this summer

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Fazal Sher
ISLAMABAD: The fast depleting water table and leaking decades old supply lines are likely to result in acute water shortage in the federal capital this summer. “One the hand the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has so far failed to allocate funds or arrange a donor for its project of old water supply lines upgradation and replacement, on the other hand water table in the city has alarmingly reduced which would create an acute water crisis,” a senior official of CDA told Daily Times. Leaking waterlines: The official said despite claims CDA had failed to allocate funds for its waterlines replacement project in the current financial year budget, which would further deteriorate the situation. He said most of the lines in the city, especially in the less developed sectors, were very old and resulting in around 40 percent wastage of total water supplied to the federal capital. He said water pipelines required immediate upgradation and rehabilitation to control water leakages otherwise the situation would cause huge water shortage in the federal capital. He said the CDA needed waterlines and its Water Supply Directorate’s upgradation. Water table: The official said the depleting water table in the city had alarmingly reduced water generation from groundwater sources. He said the tube wells, which were designed to produce 400 to 500 gallons of water per minute, were now producing only 40 to 50 gallons of water per minute. He said the ground water table had receded by all most 70 feet and due to this situation soil was unable to absorb rainwater properly and rainwater flowed to natural streams. The official said the authority needed to explore and start utilisation of surface water sources including dams, rivers or water streams and stop sinking tube wells. He said the existing sources of water for urban Islamabad were solely dependent upon rain and ground water. The main sources included Simly Dam on River Soan, Khanpur Dam on River Korang and tube wells, he said, adding, currently total supply of water was 60 million gallons daily (MGD), while the required total required quantity was 115 MGD.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...09_pg11_11