The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Sheikh Anser Aziz was chosen as Islamabad’s mayor back in 2015 when the party gained a majority in the city’s local bodies elections. Aziz was a contractor – enlisted with CDA – who also managed a contract of the renovation of the Marghzar Zoo in 2008, even though his firm was not registered with the SECP. On Feb 15, Sheikh became the first-ever mayor of Islamabad. He came with big promises and claims to address the issues being faced by the citizens, including water scarcity issue. But he has been a mayor for 18 months now and nine months are passed since he became the CDA chairman, but nothing has been changed other than transfers and postings. Though it was not an easy task for him as the CDA labour union challenged the transfer of employees, departments and assets from the CDA to MCI in Islamabad High Court (IHC), and the matter is still subjudice. Meanwhile, a serious…

42 tubewells out of order due to shortage of funds Islamabad Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change on Thursday expressed serious concern over the threat to food security and scarcity of water in the future from impacts of global warming.
Director General, Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC), Irfan Tariq, told a committee ‘Production of wheat has dropped 15 percent due to shift in monsoon season.
Climate Change will have far reaching effects on Pakistan’s over all economy,’ ‘The rationing became necessary after water levels in both Simli and Khanpur dams dropped significantly.
Secretary Climate Change, Syed Abu Ahmed Akif complained that there was not a drop of water in his Sector F-6.
Senators, Sitara Ayaz and Mushahid Hussain Syed, expressed shocked over shortage of water in Islamabad.Both members urged the chairman of the committee, Senator Mir Muhammad Yousaf Badini, for a dedicated meeting on Islamabad’s water crisis.
Water in Khanpur Dam was down to 1, 925 feet compared to 1, 955 feet last year.
According to the official, out of 192 tube wells 42 were out of order due to lack of maintenance from shortage of funding.
While 20 will likely become functional within a month, remaining have become obsolete.
Secretary, Climate Change, Syed Abu Akif, proposed the government to charge residents for mining ground water.
Once completed, the twin cities will have 100 million gallons water per day each,’ said Sheikh Ansar Aziz.

Farmers Convention demands early construction of water reservoirs.
Observer Report Islamabad A farmers’ convention on Wednesday warned of deepening water shortage crisis and called for expedited construction of water reservoirs and hydro-electric projects for addressing water and energy shortage in the country.
The convention said construction of water reservoir projects having a total capacity of 12 MAF, whose PC-I had been approved by Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), should be immediately started.
The farmers criticized the government for its incompetence and indifference to the water shortage issue, which was seriously impacting agricultural output in the country.
They said rulers and the politicians were responsible for the delay in construction of water reservoirs and dams in the country.
They criticized Indus River System Authority Chairman for saying that equitable distribution of water among the provinces could not be guaranteed.
On India’s water aggression against Pakistan, the farmers asked the government to seek international arbitration over violations of Indus Water Treaty by India.
They asked the government not to entertain US, World Bank and IMF pressures on this issue and go all out for getting the country’s due right.
Participants of the convention emphasized on Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa to realize the seriousness of water shortage and play his role with regards to the implementation of Indus Water Treaty.
The participants of the convention decided to hold farmer rallies on the occasion of 59th anniversary of Indus Water Treaty on October 19 and present memoranda to US embassy and UN mission on Indian violations of Indus Water Treaty.

Water shortage: Islamabad Mayor Aziz put on notice.
ISLAMABAD: The mayor of Islamabad was put on notice by the high court on Thursday over the continued shortage of water in the capital.
While hearing a petition on water scarcity filed by Raja Tanvir, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani of the Islamabad High Court issued notices to Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz.
Tanvir made the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) through the mayor and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) respondents in the case.
In the petition, the resident argued that he had filed several applications with the civic authorities but no action seemed to have been taken.
He contended that the authorities had failed to fulfil their constitutional obligations.
He added that the IMC had contracted a private organisation for tube wells in the capital.
Moreover, he said that in view of the growing demand for water, the civic authorities had failed to install new tube wells in the city.
He urged the court to direct the authorities to resolve water crisis and restore water supply to the capital, particularly to residents of Sector I-10.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 28th, 2017.

Islamabad – Complaints pertaining to water shortage in the capital city have started rising with each passing day with the onset of summer season, suggests the data of Water Distribution Division of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI).
It said that the directorate took care of 12305 complaints during the month of March, 2017 only through its water tanker service with Sector I-10 remained the worst hit of what can be termed as authority’s incompetence.
Hardly a sector of the city is being provided sufficient water through pipelines; reveals the figures which were shared in a meeting held at CDA Headquarters to review performance of Water Distribution Division.
According to CDA, the water tanker service addressed 10 complaints in Sector G-5, 376 in Sector G-6, 129 in Sector G-7, 104 in Sector G-8, 142 in Sector F-6, 139 in Sector E-7, 267 in Sector F-8, 776 in Sector G-9, 1242 in Sector G-10, 276 in Sector G-11, 161 in Sector F-10, 514 in Sector F-11, 514 in Sector I-8, 214 in Sector I-9, 2937 in Sector I-10, 1406 in Sector I-11, and 138 in Sector D-12 during the month of March, 2017.
Mayor Islamabad and Chairman CDA, Sheikh Anser Aziz observed that there is enough room for improvement in water supply to the residents.
During the peak summer season, water tanker service even cannot cater to the needs of the residents.
The grade-19 officers from various departments of federal government visited CDA headquarters as part of their ongoing MCMC.
The course was aimed at capacity building of participants to improve public service delivery.
tahir niaz This news was published in The Nation newspaper.
Read complete newspaper of 28-Apr-2017 here.

Islamabad As the political parties are set to exploit water issue in Islamabad in their campaign leading to the next general elections, the Municipal Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) has claimed to meet the shortage in the next little over two years after completing water supply project from Indus River. The next general elections if everything goes smoothly would be held, next year and the water crisis in Islamabad is becoming hot issue for the election campaigns. The local leadership of two main opposition parties Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have already started grilling the government and civic bodies for their failure to ensure sufficient supply of water to residents of the federal capital. Feeling that water shortage is the burning issue in Islamabad, the political parties have been staging demonstrations besides displaying banners across the federal capital. The Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz and his government have also been facing severe criticism from the opposition members and chairmen of his own party in the last three sessions of the MCI With the advent of early summer season excluding the last couple of days, the requirement of water had increased but the supply remained at 54 Million Gallons per Day (MGD) which is less than half of total capacity of water reservoirs like…

Islamabad-Next to Oxygen, safe and clean drinking water is exponentially indispensable as well as utmost important for human survival since around 75 per cent body is water. Notwithstanding being extremely essential for human body, over 38 million people do not have an access to clean and safe drinking water in the country, rather its paucity is surging. Federal capital is faced with scarcity of potable water let alone other parts of the country are being supplied safe drinking water. Long queues of people holding bottles at filtration plants in the federal capital territory lend credence to safe water outage. Mineral water companies are capitalizing the situation of water shortage and getting their water business flourished day-by-day in the name of supplying safe drinking water. As the residents are already worried about irregular supply of water in the Federal Capital, the situation is going to get worse owing to the onslaught of sizzling summer approaching swiftly. Talking to APP, Azaz Malik, a resident of Sector F8/1 said the issue was almost a decade old now but Capital Development Authority (CDA) could not come up with a sound plan. “The only solution to the issue for the civic body lies in supplying water through tankers. But this remedy also went ineffective besides being controversial among citizens,” he said. When contacted, CDA Spokesperson Mazhar Hussain said sufficient potable water was being supplied to the capital city from the existing sources and no abnormal situation…

Many residents of newly-developed sectors have been left at the mercy of tankers mafia.
According to Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) minister, Islamabad on average needs 70 mgd (Million gallons per day) while a water shortage of 17 MGD is observed most of the time around the year.
The lag between supply and demand is filled mostly by the government and private water tankers.
Also out of around 200 tube wells located in different sectors of capital around one-third remain dysfunctional and await necessary repairs.
During the tenure of former CDA Chairman Kamran Lashari, more than a decade ago a mega project to bring water from Indus River via Tarbela Dam was approved that once completed would have sorted out water woes of twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
However, the project was shelved then and plans are afoot to revive it.
‘It has become an annual ritual that we perform every year during these months.
I’ve been living in G-13 for the last 6 years, we tried water boring but to no avail, the water level is very low.
It is pertinent to mention here that scarcity of water is nothing new for citizens of Islamabad as they have grown accustomed to it during recent years while civic authorities have utterly failed to address the issue.
Hussain said that water tankers of CDA are working 24/7 to supply water at highly subsidized costs to residents of Islamabad.

Sale of unhygienic bottled water goes on in Islamabad.
ISLAMABAD: It was shocking to note dozens of unhygienic bottled water brands being sold in the market openly while the department concerned failed to take action against the units producing unsafe water for drinking.
A number of factories were operating with an illegal brand name while many others were working with the fake titles of original companies.
Hospitals, bus stops, recreational places, kiosks etc are the main points where the fake or unregistered water bottled brands are being sold and causing diseases among the masses.
The PCRWR’s last three quarterly reports had declared 35 bottled brand as unsafe and unhygienic for human consumption during an analysis.
The monitoring report of Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) for the quarter from October to December, 2016 had declared 11 bottled water brands unsafe due to chemical and microbiological contaminations, which include Well Care, Lite Aqua, New Premier, Royal Blue, Aqua Safe, Aqua Drink Water, Rahat, Oslo, NG Fresh Water, Nurturmil Water and Aab e Khoob).
According to PCRWR, out of the unsafe brands, seven brands: Well Care, Lite Aqua, New Premier, Royal Blue, Aqua Safe, Aqua Drink Water and Rahat) had comparatively high levels of Arsenic ranging from 12-34 ppb than the PSQCA water quality standard for arsenic (10 ppb).
The report revealed that only two brands were legal while the other nine were unregistered and working illegally.
A previous quarterly report of PCRWR dated July to September 2016 had declared the brands: Premier Fresh, Well Care, National, Siiz Cool, New ARBO, Cottage Foods Drink Water, Reliable, Pacific Pure, OAS Water and Aqua National as unsafe.
The PSQCA had sealed about 128 units during the last eight months, said DG PSQCA Khalid Siddique.