Severe water shortage hits capital

Islamabad: Residents of various sectors of the federal capital are facing water rationing of two to three days due to insufficient supply of water from the Khanpur Dam.

An official of the engineering wing of the Municipal Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) requested not to be named has admitted that residents of sectors G-10, G-11 and F-10 are not getting water supply on daily basis and the situation is expected to continue for the ongoing summer season.

The main reason behind severe water shortage in these sectors is a dysfunctional heavy duty motor which helps in pumping of water along with reduction in water level at the Khanpur Dam.

“One out of two motors for water pumping is available due to which four million gallons of water per day IMGD) instead of eight MGD is being received from the Khanpur Dam,” the official said adding that in the present situation it is not possible to ensue supply of water to all sectors.

He revealed that the motor is dysfunctional for the last three years and no remedial measures had been taken since then.The official said the replacement of motor requires over Rs15 million saying that the tendering process to do the needful has been started and the needful would be done in the next few weeks.

The first Mayor of Islamabad, Sheikh Ansar Aziz, also took charge of his office in September last year. After protests by residents of Islamabad over water shortage, reportedly Rs five million have been released for repair of 72 dysfunctional tubewells.

The spokesman for MCI told ‘The News’ that 30 out of 72 dysfunctional tubewells would be made operational in the next two to three weeks while measures were also being taken for improving the water supply in all the sectors.

“We are also working on long term planning in shape of receiving 100 MGD water from Indus River and it will take at least two years to complete,” the spokesman said.Presently, it is sector G-10/1 which is the worst hit by water shortage. “We receive water supply after three to four days which is not sufficient to meet our requirements,” Amjad residing in Street 16 of Sector G-10/1 said.

He said it is also not possible to get water supply through MCI tankers as the private tanker mafia always enjoy good time during the summer season. He regretted that the civic agency had not been available to receive water from the existing capacity of water resources.“This shows seriousness of MCI in resolving our basic issues,” he said.