RAWALPINDI: In line with the Pakistan Meteorology Department`s drought alert which warns of minimum chances of rain in February and March, the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) on Saturday imposed the drought emergency in the city to manage the water requirements of the residents.

Wasa Managing Director Muhammad Saleem Ashraf told Dawn that due to the drought, rapidly growing population, various commercial activities, and limited resources the supply of water to the residents of the garrison city was affected.`Wasa Rawalpindi is facing severe difficulties in provision of water and in view of this situation, it has been decided to impose a drought emergency in Rawalpindi so that the people use water judiciously,` Mr Ashraf said.

He said that a water conservation campaign had been launched in the city because of the absence of rain over the past three months.

He said that due to a prolonged dry spell, there had been a sharp decline in dams and underground reservoirs which created a huge gap in the demand and supply.

`Rawalpindi city requires 68 million gallons daily (MGD) of water, while 51 MGD is being provided from the existing resources, including the Rawal and Khanpur dams besides more than 490 tube wells. Keeping this in mind, a campaign has been started...to prevent unnecessary use and waste of water,` he said, warning that fines would be imposed in cases of violation.The Wasa official groundwater was depleting rapidly. In the 1990s, the water level was 100 feet but now it has receded to 700feet,he said.

He, however, said that more funds would be spent on the tube wells which supply groundwater to residents.

Wasa also asked the public to take precautions and cooperate with the sanitation agency to ensure water was not wasted.

`Wasa will impose fines on consumers who will waste water for washing their cars and [in cases of] leakage of water pipelines in their houses,` he said.

For the service stations, hotels, and restaurants, he said that it was mandatory for the service stations to install a water recycling system at their outlets, adding that service stations and commercial units would not be allowed to waste clean water to save water till the arrival of rains.

It may be mentioned here that the Punjab environmental department hasalready banned car washing and the use of water pipes at homes. A fine of Rs10,000 will be imposed on violators.

According to a notification issued by the department, all illegal service stations have been ordered to shut down immediately. Moreover, service stations operating without a water recycling system will face a hefty fine of Rs100,000.

To comply with the new regulations, service stations across Punjab must install water recycling systems by February 28.

It was recently reported that water supplyfromKhanpurDamtoRawalpindi and Islamabad will be curtailed from 28.6 million gallons daily (MGD) to 10 MGD from February 9 to February 22 due to the dredging of the dam`s left bank canal.

According to the Capital Development Authority`s Khanpur Dam Division, the water supply from Khanpur Dam will `remain suspended` from Feb 10 to Feb 19 for the annual desilting of the Left Bank Canal.