Rawalpindi-The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) is facing an acute shortage of water tankers and bowsers to maintain its standard and deliver water to consumers, informed official sources on Saturday.
Due to less number of water tankers and bowsers, the water scarcity has hit various union councils having population size 2.1 million, they said. “At present, a total of 22 water tankers are moving in the city which is not enough to cater to the need of consumers,” they added.
The consumers have urged the bosses of WASA to increase the number of water tankers to handle water shortage.
An official of civic body informed that a request will be made to Punjab government to award fleet of more water tankers to WASA to mitigate public woes.
According to sources, the parts of city including Adiala Road, Dhama Syedan, Ali Town, Munawar Colony, Jarahi, Kehkashan Colony, Chakra, Chak Jalal, Dhoke Syedan, Dhamial, Chakri, Khayaban-e-Sir Syed and many other areas are facing severe water crises and the situation was likely to worsen in the next few days. They said the demand for water tankers was soaring in these areas. They said the underground water level in these areas went down to an alarming level. They said WASA is supplying very less water to consumers of these areas owing to shortage of water tankers and bowsers. The demand for water tankers in these areas has gone up, said sources.
“Water shortage has increased in our area as the civic body was seemingly helpless in supplying us water due to less number of water tankers,” said Fahad Hussain, the resident of Chak Jalal Din.
He said WASA hardly managed to send a water tanker to his area once in a week. “We have to buy water from private tanker owners even against very high rates,” he lamented. Another man namely Zulfiqar, hailing from Adiala Road, said the civic body has failed in mitigating the need of water of the consumers. He said his area is in grip of severe water shortage. “Most of the residents are relying on private tankers by paying huge amounts to them to get water,” he said.
Ahmed Khan of Chakra was of view that all of our complaints to civic body fell on deaf ears.
He said the WASA should at least ensure water for the residents as they had to buy the commodity from private tanker owners on exorbitant prices. 
Vice Chairman WASA Haroon Kamal Hashmir, however, when contacted by The Nation, confirmed that the civic body has only 22 tankers. He said WASA was all set to raise the number of water tankers. “We have evolved a plan to write a letter to Punjab government to allocate funds for WASA to buy new tankers,” he said. He informed that 22 water tankers being owned by WASA were given some 20 years ago through Asian Development Bank’s funded schemes, Rawalpindi Environment Improvement Project and Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project. He said the underground water level downed to a dangerous level because of setting of some 1,500 tube wells by WASA, Rawalpindi and Cantonment Boards in the city. “To overwhelm water crisis, the government is launching projects of surface water and work on construction of Chihan Dam has been accelerated,” said Haroon Kamal Hashmi adding that the city would be provided with 60 million gallons of water a day after completion of the project costing Rs5.5 billion. Similarly, Dadocha Dam is being constructed by the government to cater to the need of potable water. He said Kehkashan Water Supply scheme is to be completed partially till December 2021. “WASA has also made functional nine out of 12 tube wells in the said area to supply water to consumers,” he said.