Pakistan: Rawalpindi declares drought emergency as water supply faces severe shortfall

Rawalpindi [Pakistan] February 16 (ANI): The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) of Rawalpindi city declared a drought emergency in the city to manage the water needs of the inhabitants, following the drought alert issued by the Pakistan Meteorological Department, which warns of the lowest likelihood of rain in February and March.

According to a report by Dawn on Saturday, Muhammad Saleem Ashraf, the managing director of Wasa, on said that the water supply for the people living in the garrison city was impacted by the drought, the population's rapid growth, a variety of economic operations, and a lack of resources.

"Wasa Rawalpindi is facing severe difficulties in the provision of water and given this situation, it has been decided to impose a drought emergency in Rawalpindi so that the people use water judiciously," Ashraf said as quoted by Dawn.

He said that a protracted dry season had caused a dramatic drop in dams and subterranean reservoirs, resulting in a massive mismatch between supply and demand, Dawn reported.

"Rawalpindi city requires 68 million gallons daily (MGD) of water, while 51 MGD is being provided from the existing resources, including the Rawal and Khanpur dams besides more than 490 tube wells. Keeping this in mind, a campaign has been started...to prevent unnecessary use and waste of water," he said as quoted by Dawn, warning that fines would be imposed in cases of violation.

According to Wasa officials, groundwater was rapidly running out. The water level was 100 feet in the 1990s, but it has since dropped to 700 feet, he said, Dawn reported.

Earlier the city of Karachi faced disruptions in water supply due to the Dhabeji pumping station's power outage. The catastrophe, which was brought on by an explosion during the breakdown, caused two large pipelines to burst, stopping the supply of water to various parts of the city. The Express Tribune stated that Pipeline No. 5, which had a diameter of 72 inches, was one of the impacted pipelines. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)