WASA Faisalabad has laid off over 700 daily wage workers due to the financial crisis, as the country battles with unprecedented inflation.
According to Samaa News, Faisalabad WASA has also issued a notification to the same. According to the Director Admin, he is unable to bear the expenses so daily wager employees will no longer be working in the department.
Residents of Islamabad’s sectors G-13 and G-14 are paying private tankers up to Rs5,000 to fetch water for their homes to meet their needs during the current summer season.
Buildings and houses are being constructed in these sectors, but the availability of water continues to be a severe issue that has to be handled by the concerned authorities.
When water is only occasionally—once a week or never—given, the locals are left at the tanker mafia’s mercy. The G13 sector has been one of the most severely impacted communities.
According to The News, there was a plan to use Khanpur Dam to deliver water to these areas, but there were several obstacles, such as encroachment and the failure to acquire property for the supply lines.
The civic agency began supplying water to certain sectors via tankers at discounted prices. At its G-10 facility, there were no fees for filling private water tankers, allowing the inhabitants of these two sectors to obtain water at subsidised prices.
Since water at reduced rates was only provided once a week, eventually residents are compelled to buy water from tankers at outrageous prices.
The locals reported that they are also having issues with their schools, crumbling roads, electrical shortages, a lack of parks, filthy conditions, and a lack of health care services.
Water supply from Rawal Dam and Khanpur Dam has been disrupted, causing severe water shortages in the city.
The water crisis has been attributed to long hours of unscheduled load shedding by Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco), which cuts the electricity every hour and on a regular basis, according to the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Managing Director.
Wasa claims that the water supply from Khanpur Dam and Rawal Dam has been severely impacted and that it is insufficient to meet demand.
On a daily basis, the city requires around 60 million gallons of water. It is, however, only supplied with 30 million gallons per day.
All tube wells remained closed due to long and unexpected load shedding, according to Wasa Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood. In this situation, he stated, getting water from Rawal Lake Filtration Plant was impossible.
He stated that we are not receiving enough water from Khanpur Dam to meet demand. Due to persistent load shedding, we were unable to store water in tanks, he said. He said that hardly half of the water from Rawal Dam is delivered to the city and cantonment board districts.
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Mehmood further stated that due to low voltage and tripping, some motors have been burned. He has pleaded for the provision of uninterruptible electricity in order to deliver water to the inhabitants.
The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) has taken note of the car wash facilities in Lahore that are wasting water and will penalize those responsible.
The Managing Director (MD) of WASA, M. Tanveer summoned a meeting of key personnel, who organized units to conduct a crackdown operation. The teams would comprise officials from the operations and revenue departments who will provide the Managing Director with a daily status report.
Tanveer called for immediate action against vehicular washing facilities that do not have a water recycling facility.
Car wash stations will be given a warning at first and will face severe consequences if they do not install a recycling plant.
According to a recent high court appeal, service stations consume around 200 liters of water for a small car and 300 liters for a bigger vehicle.
WASA instructed that service stations must recycle 70 per cent of the water they use, or they will be shut down. The authority will also impose hefty fines on anyone who tosses trash into drainpipes and sewer lines in order to avoid sewage from blocking.
Gutters began to boil in the streets of Faisalabad making the routine life difficult for citizens.
According to details, residents of the area are stuck in their houses due to the stinking water and they say that guests have stopped coming to their houses because of the filthy water. They complained that no one comes to fix the sewerage system.
According to a citizen, the problem of sewerage has been going on for a long time. He said that the stench of the dirty water makes it difficult for them to sleep and that children in the area are getting sick because of the germs.
Residents of the area say that even the elected representatives have disappeared in this difficult time.
Citizens were so annoyed at the elected representatives that they posted their pictures on boiling gutters.
Meanwhile, Chairman WASA has said that due to closure of the main sewer line in Samanabad area, there are complaints of water in the streets of many areas. He said that WASA teams are working to solve this problem and it will be resolved soon.