It is learnt that CDA has prepared a project for arranging bulk supply of water from Ghazi Bharotha Canal to Islamabad. The project, when completed will provide the capital with access to perennial source of river Indus and will ensure adequate quantity of water for it in the times to come. Nevertheless, the chronic problem of water shortage supply as faced by Islamabad at present would by no means be over. The problem persists all around the year, even when the dams at Simly and Khanpur are full. The root cause of the problem lies not in the shortage of water at the source, as the CDA authorities have us to believe and which serves as a convenient alibi for them. The problem is the defective and poorly maintained network of pipelines, leaking joints, rusted pipes, jammed and blocked valves and faulty pumping equipment etc that are the actual causes of the inadequate and irregular supply. Unless these defects are located and removed, the shortage will remain even if we bring the whole river Indus to Islamabad. The authority competent to sanction the project should, therefore, in the first instance, ask the CDA to rectify the defects in their water network. Unless this is done, the implementation of this project, or any other, would be fruitless. -M. ZUBAIR FAROOQUI, via e-mail, April 28.