With the population influx going unchecked and the water paucity aggravating, the residents of Rawalpindi have urged the civic authorities for timely steps to avert water shortage.
As the residents especially in congested areas face this dilemma every summer, they have drawn attention of Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) to address this problem prior to the summer starts.
People living in Dhoke Kala Khan, Qayyumabad, Muslim Town, Sadiqabad, Committee Chowk, Shah Khalid Colony, Bagh Sardaran, Adiala Road, Defence Road, New Lalazar, Morgah, Kalyal, Munawar Colony, Asghar Mall, City Saddar Road, Kohati Bazaar, Peoples Colony, Adiala Road and Dhoke Syedan Road are stated to be the worst hit communities during peak season every year. Although, in all 480 WASA tube wells are stated to be operating across the city, yet the Agency falls short of meeting water needs of the public as some of these tube wells need repair or face water sucking issues as water table downs to 400 to 600 feet in certain areas.
The WASA is sometimes felt helpless to meet the water needs of growing population even after receiving 13 million gallons water per day from Rawal Dam and six million gallons from Khanpur Dam. This situation compels the consumers to buy tanker water who in return are becoming a mafia to exploit consumers by charging extra money for water supply.
“Every summer we face water shortage especially during peak season,” said Amjad Ali, a resident of Muslim Town. “Although the authorities claim to supply water uninterrupted, yet our needs remain unmet.” He mentioned to issues like ruptured pipelines, low capacity performing tube wells and wastage of water by residents. “We are not blaming WASA alone as water provision and its conservation is a shared responsibility.” “But, it needs certain mechanism to address this issue. We desire civic agencies to address these issues prior to upcoming summer,” Ali said.
Residents of several other areas Ariya Mohallah, Dhoke Munshi, Rehmatabad, Noorani Mohallah, Banaris Colony Kachi Abadi, Dhoke Dalal Khan, Walyat Homes and Mumtaz Colony have also complained of same situation and urged a workable strategy to address this issue.
“Every summer this phenomenon repeats. Despite claims of authorities many of us had to wait water for hours and even for days,” said Naeem Ahmed a resident of Ariya Mohalla. “Whether it is shortage of resources or the capacity issue, we are the ultimate victims,” he said. “This situation compels residents to buy tanker water and we have to pay twice. Once to WASA and then to private tanker operators, who charge us as per their will.”
Another resident Rashid Mahmood has specifically drawn the attention of district administration towards massively and unchecked charging by private water tanker operators. “These tanker operators take full advantage of water shortage during summer,” he said and claimed that they charge Rs 3000 to Rs 5000 for each tanker during summer. Therefore, he said, the concerned authorities must not only enhance water supply capacity but also devise some mechanism to set the water tanker price.
As the water shortage is becoming a country-wide issue, some efficient strategies and strict measures were urgently required for judicious water supply, its conservation and reigning in tanker mafia to bring some respite to the consumers. Although many residents resorted to digging wells or boring, yet others not having resources to spend on this activity are left on the mercy of WASA or the tanker operators.
Commenting on this situation Managing Director Water and Sanitation Agency WASA Muhammad Tanveer claimed of making all out efforts to address this issue. “We are on it. We try to ensure uninterrupted water supply.” “Even though, if there is shortage in any area, it is met by supplying water through WASA water tankers,” Tanveer claimed. “In addition to ensuring timely supply of pipe water, we also ensure that our staff fully cooperates with citizens.”
Assistant Director (Water Supply) WASA, Mohammad Ahmed and Sub Engineer Water Supply Mohammad Tufail have also claimed that there was no water supply issue in Rawalpindi. “We are cognizant of the situation and doing a lot to improve water supply. We assure that situation improves for Rawalpindi citizens during upcoming summer,” they stated. Even if we agree with their claim of no water shortage in the city, then why we see a lot of private tankers roaming around to supply water in residential areas.
Since, the Rawalpindi city’s water shortage touches 60 million gallon a day (MGD) in peak summer season, the authorities believe that construction of Dadocha Dam, would help address this issue.
Started after a delay of 13 years, on special directives of Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi, the dam would cost Rs 14 billion and provide 35 MGD clean water to Residents. Since, water is a basic need of every citizen, therefore, the authorities must ponder on evolving a workable and multi-pronged strategy for addressing this issue. Checking water wastage would emerge as a major problem for the authorities during days ahead with the country already touching the international water scarcity benchmark.
