Senate panel told water levels in Simli, Khanpur dams lower than last year. PHOTO: EXPRESS

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentarians in a Senate panel on Thursday censured the government for its lack of vision, policies and low capacity of institutions to tackle the water shortage in the capital both, in the short and long-term.



It also urged the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak- EPA) and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to take notice of the garbage and solid waste dumps in the rural areas of Islamabad.



The Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change met at the Parliament House on Thursday with Senator Ahmed Hassan in the chair.



Officials from the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation’s (IMC) Water Supply Directorate briefed the committee about the persisting water shortage in Islamabad.



The said that while the directorate is responsible for the production and distribution of clean drinking water in the capital, they had been facing issues due to dwindling supplies. The officials explained that surface and ground water sources were depleting fast while, owing to global climatic changes, the region had witnessed fewer rains since the last winter.



As a result, the water levels in the Simly and Khanpur Dams had fallen to levels lower than those recorded at the same time last year. To make matters worse, officials said that of the 192 tube wells in the capital, 48 were not working.



The IMC official said that the current water level in Simly Dam was 2,256 cubic feet (cft), down from 2,286 cft during the corresponding period last year. By contrast, the current water level in Khanpur Dam was 1,924 cft, down from 1,950 cft during the corresponding period last year.



“A draw down of up to up to 25-30 cft has also been noticed in ground water resources (tube wells) and due to these reasons the yield of tube wells has decreased,” the official added.



The officials also briefed the committee about the policy of water rationing in Islamabad and said that the policy was based on the availability of water production from the surface as well as groundwater sources.



He added that in accordance with the operation control rules of the Simly Dam reservoir, whenever the water level reached 2,299 cft, a 25 per cent cut was required to be imposed on the total supply of water. If the water level falls below 2,276 cft, a 50 per cent cut on water supply is imposed.



Given the current level of the dams, a 50 per cent cut had been imposed to prolong water availability till the monsoon season.



The committee was also told that to meet the immediate as well as future requirements of water in the twin cities, a sustainable project of conducting water from the Indus River to Rawalpindi and Islamabad had been conceived.



The PC-II of the project was approved in 2005 at cost of Rs27 million. The PC-I was Prepared in 2006 at cost of Rs37 billion, the CDWP however deferred it in 2008 for revision and inclusion of land acquisition.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2017.