Water issue in Islamabad worsens with the residents as groundwater table lowers

ISLAMABAD, Feb 7 (APP): Water issue in the federal capital is worsening with the residents are getting intermittent supply even before the summer due to rapid increase in population, decades-old water supply infrastructure, lowering groundwater table and lack of initiative to build more reservoirs.

Though the Capital Development Authority (CDA) claimed successful execution of a comprehensive rehabilitation plan to improve water supply in the city, people living in series of F, G, I and some other sectors, rural areas and various colonies are forced to opt for alternative options due to severe shortage of the facility.

“I have been living in the federal capital for the last couple of decades, but unfortunately, never heard of replacement of rusty pipelines, laid in the city in the late 60s to provide water to the residential area,” said a retired government employee Mustafa Aziz living in a residential Sector I-10 of Islamabad.

He said reliance on outdated pipeline infrastructure by the water directorate was beyond his belief as the population in the capital city had been increased manifold, crossing two million figure in the last couple of decades.

Water, he said was the basic need of people and “Wastage from pipeline due to rotten lines was equivalent to the amount of water, produced from Simly dam alone,” he claimed.

He said it also led to increase in water-boring trend that eventually lowered the ground water table, urging the authorities concerned to rectify the situation on fast-track basis. Another citizen from Tarlai, a suburban area of Islamabad, said the cost of water boring was too high for a common man as in some areas water level had gone down to over 400 feet.

“And it can cost up to five hundred thousand rupees if you are lucky to find the water,” he regretted. A citizen from Sector G-7, Ishfaq Ahmed said he was living in this area for the last many years and never faced water shortage, but now the situation was not different from the water-scare areas of Islamabad.