CDA Focuses on Roads and Housing While Water Crisis Looms in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad has been facing a growing scarcity of water due to the rapid increase in its population and the lack of new water projects for almost three decades.

This issue was raised in the National Assembly, where the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, stated that a detailed assessment was underway to determine the future requirements of water in the city.

He added that although there were no immediate plans for a new dam, there was a proposal to expand the Simly Dam.

The Simly Dam, located 35 kilometers northeast of Islamabad, is owned by the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

In the last two years, the CDA has rectified 1,700 major and minor water leakages by replacing affected distribution lines, resulting in saving 8-10 million gallons of water per day.

However, no new source of potable water has been explored in the last 30 years, despite the population of the city increasing due to urbanization and migration.

The CDA has been focusing on construction projects such as roads and housing schemes, including the development of new sectors. Meanwhile, private housing schemes, including apartment projects, are thriving, but the sources of water have remained the same since the 1990s.

According to CDA officials, the last water project, Khanpur Dam, was launched in the 1990s when the population of the city was around 600,000. However, in the census of 2017, it was recorded at 2.2 million, and now it is believed to be around three million.

Currently, the CDA has three main sources of water – Simly Dam, Khanpur Dam, and tubewells – which provide around 70 million gallons of water per day, far less than the requirement.

If no steps are taken in the coming years, the city could face a major crisis-like situation, especially during summers when residents already face water shortages.

The CDA’s documents show that the water demand was about 215 million gallons per day in 2020, projected to increase to 278 million gallons per day in 2030 and 411 million gallons per day in 2040.

During the National Assembly’s question hour session, lawmakers also raised concerns about encroachment in Islamabad’s markets and deputationist officers who have been joining the CDA for the last eight years.

They pleaded that vacant seats in the CDA should be filled through new recruitment, and Mr. Abbasi informed the house that efforts were being made to get government approval for starting recruitment in the CDA.

Source: DAWN