The PPP leader said that people were forced to spend around Rs6,000 to Rs10,000 to purchase water from private tanker service, whereas the supply from the official water tanker service had virtually come to a halt.
He said aggrieved citizens facing acute water shortage could not get due relief in case they lodged their complaints at the designated complaint centres as even after the passage of one week, they were unable to get the required water at their households from the official tanker service.
In such a situation, the suffering citizens are left with no option other than to purchase water from private tanker service at exorbitant rates, Mehdi added.
He appealed to the chairman of the Supreme Court-mandated Water Commission working in Sindh to take notice of KWSB’s poor performance in supplying water to the residents of Karachi.
He added that the water distribution system in various parts of Karachi had been completely ruined in connivance with the officials and staffers of KWSB to fulfill the vested interests of unscrupulous elements.
The PPP leader further said that a survey conducted on an honest basis would expose well the present pathetic state of affairs of the existing water distribution system in the city.
In his statement, Mehdi said the incumbent managing director of KWSB had completely failed to revamp the water distribution system as complaints had been pouring in from almost all parts of Karachi regarding severe water shortage persisting there.
The KWSB and caretaker Sindh government have been completely indifferent to all such complaints, said the PPP leader.
He added that the present administration of KWSB should be removed and in their place such officials should be appointed who, through their abilities, experience and expertise, could revamp the water distribution system in Karachi on a war-footing basis.
The PPP leader further said that steps should be taken on an emergency basis to save the citizens of Karachi from the constant agony of water shortage.

Chairman Senate Forum for Policy Research (SFPR) committee on Wednesday discussed in detail the water scarcity issue being faced by the country and decided to submit a detailed report based on the recommendations and suggestions of the committee members.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 1st Aug, 2018 ) :Chairman Senate Forum for Policy Research (SFPR) committee on Wednesday discussed in detail the water scarcity issue being faced by the country and decided to submit a detailed report based on the recommendations and suggestions of the committee members.
The committee meeting which was chaired by Senator Col (R) Syed Tahir Hussain Mashadi said the Senate members should convince the upper House of the parliament to form a committee comprising of the entire Senate to significantly discuss water paucity issues for addressal.
He asked member senators Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif and Faisal Javaid to present the report on resolving water Scarcity issue as a resolution before the upper house.
SFPR meeting has made a comprehensive analysis of the report on water shortage issue while the committee chairman has apprised the incumbent members of Senate to submit their recommendations for the solution of the daunting issue in the next session.
The committee members have assured the chairman to work collectively with senior members of the forum for devising better suggestions and solutions for the issue and would submit a report to the committee in this regard.
The session also discussed General Elections 2018 in detail where all members actively participated.
The committee members suggested to have a thorough debate on the elections 2018 and constitute a body of all members of the house to give a briefing on the general Elections 2018.

WINDHOEK, July 31 (Xinhua) — Namibia’s capital city municipal authorities on Tuesday declared that the water availability situation is critical and mandatory water restrictions will be implemented accordingly in Windhoek as of Aug. 1.
The City of Windhoek municipality announced that based on the current situation with regards to the availability of water for the next 3 years, the municipality has no choice but to increase Demand Management actions.
Water scarcity is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within the city.
According to the municipality in a statement, the announcement recently made by the country’s water supplier, NamWater indicated that the inflow in the dams for the past rainy season amounted to only about 24.91 percent of the average expected inflow.
“Consumers in Windhoek are urged to continue with the responsibility of increased savings and with the concerted efforts applied during the previous drought, to manage their consumption within the applicable restrictions,” the municipality added.

The Maharashtra government has approved over Rs 70 billion to complete the drinking water projects in scarcity-hit areas, state minister Babanrao Lonikar said.
The government is committed to provide water to all villages that are perennially dry, the water supply and sanitation minister said in a release issued last night.
Under the National Rural Drinking Water Scheme, the government has approved a proposal of Rs 79.52 billion for completing 6,624 water projects in 10,583 villages, he said.
The jumbo proposal is aimed at the completion of works in Konkan, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati, Nagpur and Pune divisions.
Nearly 6,500 projects have already been completed in the last four years by spending Rs 55 billion, Lonikar said.
During the last four years, the main emphasis was to complete the pending projects, he said.
The water supply department ensured that funds were properly utilised and action was taken against district bodies misusing the money, he added.
Notably, the Marathwada region of Maharashtra is a perennially drought-hit area.
The region received only 86 per cent of its average rainfall last year, a senior revenue official had earlier said.
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Kabarole’s safe water coverage stands at 51.7%, which is below the national rural safe water level of 70% Residents of Karambi and Harugongo sub-counties have raised alarm over the dirty water which they share with animals.
Several residents in the two sub counties have no access to clean water while others have to travel for several kilometers to access clean water.
On Tuesday, Mugisa said the persistent shortage of safe water in the sub county affects sanitation and health, leading to waterborne infections.
“Diseases like diarrhoea, typhoid and dysentery have continued to affect many people in our communities.
We do not have water and in most cases, we have to share water sources with animals,” he said.
Sunday Mwesige, a resident of Harugongo, said in some areas the water scarcity arises out of broken boreholes as well as drying springs and wetlands.
Emmanuel Kagoro, the LCIII chairman for Karambi sub county, said that the sub county has no resources to provide clean water to the people.
We cannot do much to solve the problem so we only rely on stakeholders and other well-wishers,” Kagoro said Amon Murungi, the executive director for Rwenzori Child Help Foundation, on Tuesday while commissioning a shallow well in Karambi sub county, said they had embarked on the process of constructing shallow wells in the most affected areas.
“We are working with communities and the local leaders to ensure that people get clean water because people are suffering,” Murungi said.
Richard Rwabuhinga the district LCV chairperson for Kabarole said recently that they had partnered with National Water and Sewerage Cooperation to extend piped water to Harugongo sub county.

WINDHOEK, July 31 (Xinhua) — Namibia’s capital city municipal authorities on Tuesday declared that the water availability situation is critical and mandatory water restrictions will be implemented accordingly in Windhoek as of Aug. 1.
The City of Windhoek municipality announced that based on the current situation with regards to the availability of water for the next 3 years, the municipality has no choice but to increase Demand Management actions.
Water scarcity is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within the city.
According to the municipality in a statement, the announcement recently made by the country’s water supplier, NamWater indicated that the inflow in the dams for the past rainy season amounted to only about 24.91 percent of the average expected inflow.
"Consumers in Windhoek are urged to continue with the responsibility of increased savings and with the concerted efforts applied during the previous drought, to manage their consumption within the applicable restrictions," the municipality added.

Despite good monsoon this year, Kalyan residents are facing the water crisis.
This issue was raised by standing committee members of Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC).
“Due to water scarcity in our wards, residents have started posting photos and videos on social media and we have to answer the people.
Why the officers aren’t serious about the issue?” said Madhuri Kale, Shivsena member.
“Mohane dam which is needed to be repaired as it has completed 18 years, the dam is to be repaired and the tender process is underway.
The closure of the dam led to the water crisis in the east and west regions of the city.
Due to heavy rainfalls, rainwater heavily entered into the water purification sector of Mohane dam which obstructed supply of the water.
Already the city is witnessing people losing their lives due to potholes developed following heavy rains and now heavy rains have obstructed the water supply.
People are wondering whether Who to be blamed?
I think we have to wait for the answers .

It will take a month of exceptional rainfall for Scotland’s water levels to return to near-normal levels according to the latest water-scarcity report.
North East Scotland, North Highland and the Clyde, Ayr and Irvine have moved to "significant scarcity".
Scottish Water is continuing to appeal to people to use water "wisely."
Despite rainfall experienced in some parts this week, it has not been enough to exceed the evaporation levels meaning rivers remain low.
A deluge of rain is now forecast but Sepa says there is "a great deal of uncertainty" about how far inland it will fall.
Sepa suggests it is "highly likely" that by the end of July Scotland will have experienced its driest six-month period since 1984.
Despite this prediction, it says there is still no threat to the public water network.
Bottled water has been made available to residents in some parts of Moray who have private water supplies.
This area of north east Scotland has been on red-alert for several weeks.
River beds have become exposed and water temperatures have risen posing a threat to plants, fish and other animals.

However, the country only has a water storage capacity of 16 MAF.
In reality, Pakistan has more water than its current needs, but it hasn’t been able to utilise it efficiently.
Since we didn’t make any plans to conserve them, we now have to import natural gas.
The first step should be to conserve water resources.
Around 95 percent of water from the Indus Basin is directed towards agriculture even though we require not more than 30 percent of the amount that is currently being used for this purpose.
At least 70 percent of this water – 110 MAF – has been wasted, given the total volume of outputs from our current agricultural practices.
We need to articulate a national perspective to execute the vision.
We don’t seem to have an overarching policy framework to knit together these divergent views into a constructive national narrative that could help build a national consensus on water issues.
The cynical debate around the Kalabagh Dam shows that our national imagination doesn’t go beyond dam-specific concerns to consider questions of governance and the structural issues of the water crisis.
The next article will explore the alternatives to the conventional wisdom about the water crisis – especially the governance issues related to water politics in Pakistan.

Srinagar, Jul 25 (KNS): The residents of Pamposh Colony, Natipora expressed resentment against the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department for failing to provide adequate water supply to them.
Locals of the Lane number one told Kashmir News Service (KNS) that despite Tangnar water supply scheme being functional and pipes laid for the said purpose the area has not been connected.
"For the past three years we have been hearing that once Tangnar water scheme becomes functional there will be no water paucity.
But so far nothing has moved."
The lane has 30 households, they said, adding that “the paucity of water becomes sever during summers.
A few households in the locality have illegally plugged the water pipes for their own use.
The matter was also brought into the notice of concerned authority but they only paid lip service.
Sources in the PHE department said that as the water becomes muddy in the Doodganga filter plant, the department does not use alum to clean the water.
Sources said this is because the PHE has no alums and as such water supply is stopped.
The residents appeal to the concerned authorities to connect the area with the Tangnar water scheme so that their problem is mitigated.