Rawal Dam, Islamabad’s oldest water reservoir, functional again after three decades
It used to meet water needs of residents until 1990
Islamabad: After almost 30 years, water supply from Rawal Dam to Islamabad has been restored.
Water restoration from the capital’s oldest water reservoir was inaugurated on April 1 by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on CDA Affairs Ali Nawaz Awan.
Rawal Dam is situated at the Rawal lake and used to meeting water needs of the residents of the twin cities until 1990.
However, later mis-management and disinterest of the authorities in upgrading, in some cases, replacing the old and rusty machinery of the water treatment plant resulted in its breakdown and water supply from this huge artificial source of Rawal Lake (8.8 km²) discontinued.
Ali Nawaz Awan on Thursday posted a video clip on his twitter account in which water could be seen gushing out of the gates of the Rawal Dam.
With the Rawal Dam’s restoration and functioning of the treatment plant the Capital Development Authority (CDA) will be receiving two million gallon per day (mgd) water.
“We are very happy as finally the supply of water from Rawal Dam has been restored,” said Ali Nawaz Awan.
Water supply
According to a CDA official, the addition of the two mgd water to the supply system of Islamabad would help the the authority overcome the water shortage in the city.
Islamabad’s water woes become acute during the summer season and as the month of Ramadan closes in, sometime in the midst of current month, the city’s managers look for ways and means to maximize the city’s water capacity.
Last year, at a meeting on water supply issue it was informed that a treatment plant lay abandoned near the sports complex.
Then it was decided by the city management to make it operational. Currently, Islamabad is receiving 65 to 70 mgd against its total need of 220 mgd.
The capital city gets water from three sources: Simly Dam, Khanpur Dam and tubewells. But these three sources are not efficiently catering for the needs of an ever-increasing population of Islamabad which has increased manifold, 2.2 million in recent years.
CDA officials said as a short-term measure, the civic agency was focusing on the repair and maintenance of the supply lines by plugging leakages in the pipelines.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the local PTI is making efforts to meet long and pressing demand of the residents of Islamabad for uninterrupted water supply, said Ali Nawaz Awan.