Two weeks ago, residents of the capital set a record by lodging hundreds of water shortage-related complaints in a single day with their respective Capital Development Authority (CDA) Water Inquiry Office. The situation continues to worsen today, as residents have to call CDA continuously to forward their request for a water tanker. Complaints have been received that some residents have to survive without water for more than 48 hours in a stretch. It has also been alleged that the CDA has a certain standard operating procedure (SOP) in place that only allows the first 70 callers in the day to receive water tankers upon complaint. Whoever calls after the allotted number, must wait another day. This is a situation that is plaguing the capital city of this country, a crisis that even the Prime Minister house is not immune to. If this does not prompt the government to take severe action to resolve the water crisis, nothing will.

The estimated population of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) at present is about 2.170 million that includes urban as well as rural population, and the demand for water to meet their needs is about 211.22 million gallons per day (mgd) which translates to a severe shortage in urban areas especially, where the the demand is 125 mgd, and the actual supply is only 75 mgd. A staggering loss of 27.55 mgd of supplied water is due to the negligence of the authorities concerned that have failed to upgrade decades old, rusting and dilapidated underground water supply system. The increasing reliance on water tankers will only further worsen the situation of the underground supply system, as there will be no pressing incentive to undertake this extensive construction task and upgrade it.

Water in urban areas is being supplied from four main resources. Simly Dam currently supplies 48 per cent of the total water supplied while Khanpur Dam accounts for 12 per cent of the supply; tube wells supply 35 per cent of the water. The lack of electricity is affecting this large 35 percent of the water provided by tubewells, unable to meet the almost doubled demand in the summers. The proposed Chirah Dam, which has been in debate since the 1980s in coined as the solution of this water crisis, while the residents of the capital wait another decade for the dam to be built, immediate steps must be taken to improve the provision of water.