Directions issued to de-silt Rawal Dam for enhancing water storage.

RAWALPINDI -- Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Chairman Tariq Mehmood Khan has issued directions to devise a plan for de-silting Rawal Lake and enhance its storage capacity from 28,000 cubic feet to 43,000 cubic feet by next week.

He gave this direction to the technical team of Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and Small Dams Organisation (SDO) during its meeting held in his office.

The meeting was attended by Wasa Managing Director Mohammad Tanveer, SDO Project Director Mehar Manzoor, Wasa Director (Supply) Mohammad Tauseef, Deputy Director (Planning) Azizullah and SDO Assistant Director Arslan Abbas.

The team informed the RDA chairman that the water storage capacity of Rawal Lake had reduced due to silt and waste coming from drains and nullahs discharged in the Rawal Lake and there was a dire need for de-silting the lake to enhance storage capacity.

They said once de-silting started, water supply to the garrison city would enhance before the summer season, adding that winter was the right time to de-silt the lake otherwise it would be difficult in and after monsoon season.

RDA chairman says Punjab govt wants to increase storage capacity to cater to water needs for next 50 years

Rawal Dam is one of the main water reservoirs for the twin cities. However, from its construction in 1962, silting has caused over 50pc loss to water storage capacity of the dam so far.

RDA Chairman Tariq Mehmood Khan said the Punjab government wanted to increase water storage capacity to cater to the need of water for the garrison city for the next50yearsat least.

He said the government wanted to provide clean water to residents of the...