Wasa to launch Rs 5 billion sewerage projects

The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) is fully prepared to launch Rs 5 billion three mega projects under Lai Sewerage System Development Plan, and has submitted the feasibility of these projects to the government.
Wasa has sought a loan of Rs 5 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the completion of the Lai Sewerage System, Phase II, said a spokesman for the Agency while talking to reporters.
The feasibility report of these mega projects has been sent to the Punjab government for approval and afterwards the report will be put in the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC), he said, and added that after final approval from the ECC the work on the project will be started by the end of current year.
He said that latest equipment have been installed at Rawal Dam Filtration Plant in order to provide pure and hygienically fit water to citizens. A modern lab was also established on filtration plant which is checking the quantity of oxygen and pollution in water.
He said that the lab at filtration plant has two water checking units to check the quality of the water, adding: "We have received various complaints from the residents of downtown Rawalpindi about contaminated water."
He said that a survey was conducted to know the causes of contamination, which shows the pipelines installed by consumers, are old and rusty. Leaking pipelines installed near sewerage system is another factor of contamination of water.
Meanwhile, Wasa authorities said that the Agency is supplying 34 MGD (million gallon per day) drinking water to its more than one million consumers, while total requirement is 37 MGD and it has recovered 65 million rupees as water bills during 2003.
The Agency has three water sources for supplying pure drinking water to people which includes tube-wells, Rawal Dam and Khanpur Dam, he said and added that 207 tubewells all over city are providing 17 MGD, while Rawal Dam is producing 11 MGD and Khanpur Dam 6 MGD. All 207 tube-wells are functional and are providing smooth water supply.
There is a little water shortage as we are 3 MGD short of actual requirement but we are covering it through networking, the official admitted and added that there is no acute water shortage in the city as compared to previous years when Wasa did not exist.