Rainfall in catchment area adds five feet to Hub Dam water level

KARACHI: The ongoing rainfall in the catchment area of Hub Dam, has increased the water level at the reservoir by five feet, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Managing Director Water Board Asadullah Khan has said that the water level at the dam’s reservoir has reached to 288 feet, five feet above the level measured before the rain. The dam reservoir still receiving the inflow from the catchment area, the official said.

Khan asked the citizens of Karachi’s central and west districts, who are being supplied water from Hub dam, to offer special prayers for more rainfall to fill the reservoir.

Owing to the low supply from the dam, many areas in the western and central districts of the city were facing water shortage.

A 30-kilometer-long canal with its designed capacity supplies around 100 million gallons of water daily (mgd) to Karachi.

A spokesman of the water board had earlier told media that while he cannot confirm the exact measurement of the level of the water in the Hub Dam, but confirmed the reports that the level is dangerously low. He also added that many areas connected to the dam water supply are seriously affected and facing acute water shortage.

Lack of rainfall in the dam catchment area created drought-like situation, while a major portion of the dam’s reservoir, around 26 square kilometers, almost dried up.

The dam’s old structure and poor maintenance had resulted in leakages and breaches in the water body.

Drought-like situation

The water in Hub Dam, located 56 km from Karachi, went down owing to the lack of run-off in recent months as most parts of the country were facing drought-like situation due to last year’s monsoon was about a quarter below the norm.

The Hub dam is extended to 24,300 acres with gross storage capacity of 8,57,000 acre feet. It is the Pakistan’s third largest dam and an important source that meets water needs of the city.

The water level in the reservoir goes down due to scarce rainfall in the catchment area of Hub Dam having total capacity at 339 feet.

The last time the dam reached its full capacity was in 2013, when the water level was enough to meet the citizen’s requirements for three years, water board sources earlier said.

The dam is not only a source of water for Karachi, but also supplies water to Hub and Lasbella district of Balochistan and the surrounding areas for irrigation purposes.