Quetta's water shortage problem
I n the last 15 years, Imtiaz Ahmed has not received water from the pipelines of Water and Sanitation Authority (WASA). Ahmed lives in a densely-populated neighbourhood in Quetta around Sariab Road and purchases a water tanker every week. "In the past, I used to call [water] tanker drivers and they delivered water to my house in an hour. Now, I had to tell them two days in advance." He spent last Eid without water. His supplier had stopped taking orders more than 4 days before Eid, and so he missed out. Ahmed’s problems are not unique - almost all citizens of the provincial capital face similar water shortage issues. People living in certain upscale neighbourhoods however, needn’t worry about water supply. Quetta, the only metropolitan city in Balochistan, has a severe water shortage problem. The demand for water is 61 million gallons per day whereas the WASA can only supply 34.8 million gallons. The scarcity of water in Balochistan in general and Quetta, in particular, is ...
