Wasa has sought a loan of Rs 5 billion from Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the completion of the Lai Sewerage System, Phase II, said a spokesman of the agency while talking to Business Recorder.
Feasibility report of these mega projects has been sent to provincial government for approval and after approval from provincial government the report will be put in the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC), he said and added that after final approval from 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 people pure and hygienically fit water to drink. A modern lab was also established on filtration plant, which is checking the quantity of oxygen and pollution in water, they said and added that samples are being sent to Lahore to check the pollutants in the water.
He said that the lab at filtration plant has two water checking units to check the quality of the water before supplying it to consumers. "We have received various complaints from the residents of downtown Rawalpindi about contaminated water", he added.
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.
Raja Tariq Kiani, District Nazim took serious note of the deaths in Hyderabad due to contaminated water and directed the Wasa authorities to purchase relevant equipment from Germany to check the water purity.
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 Rs 65 millions as water bills during 2003.
Wasa has three water sources for supplying pure drinking water to people which includes tube wells, Rawal Dam and Khanpur Dam, they said and added that 207 tube wells 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.