ProPropertyNewsKP Considers Greater Water Supply Scheme to Address Groundwater Depletion

KP Considers Greater Water Supply Scheme to Address Groundwater Depletion

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities are looking into the Greater Water Supply Scheme (GWSS) to address the water shortage in the provincial capital caused by groundwater depletion.

The GWSS involves the treatment of surface or dam water to make it potable through treatment plants.

A feasibility study on the project was submitted by the Public Health Engineering Department and NESPAK in November 2012 and approved in 2014, but work on the project has not yet started.

According to a report, the GWSS may use surface water from several sources, including Mohmand Dam, Warsak Dam, Bara Dam, and Jabba Dam.

The under-construction Mohmand Dam is expected to generate 740 megawatts of electricity, irrigate 15,000 acres of land, and supply 294 million gallons of clean and potable water to Peshawar residents.

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The supply of surface water will also benefit WSSP (Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar), which currently supplies drinking water to 42 urban union councils in the provincial capital, while the Public Health Engineering Department provides water to semi-urban and rural UCs.

There are currently over 1,400 tube wells extracting groundwater, causing rapid depletion of the groundwater table.

Malik Meher Elahi, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister, stated that Chief Minister Azam Khan has taken a keen interest in the project and hopes to begin work on it soon.

Completion of the GWSS would solve the potable water crisis and provide enough water for agriculture for decades to come.

The project will be funded by a donor funding agency after a resubmission to the federal government.

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