Wasa plans to provide high quality filtered water to citizens

LAHORE: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has conceived a novel project named Blue Drop Project to provide high quality filtered water with metered connections to the residents of Lahore. Initially the Blue Drop Project will be introduced in 20 zones, out of total 253 zones of the City, said Wasa Managing Director Syed Zahid Aziz while talking with The News.

He said one zone would comprise population 25,000 to 35,000 people in every subdivision of Wasa. The pilot project will be completed at a cost of Rs 3.5 billion, he maintained. The selected localities for the pilot project include Wara Sittar, Shalimar Housing Scheme in the Fateh Garh subdivision, Tajbagh Peer Naseer in Tajpura subdivision, Sahuwari Angoori Bagh in Mustafaabad subdivision, Rehmania Park in Mozang subdivision, Zahoor Elahi Road in Gulberg subdivision, Zaman Park in Shimla Hill subdivision, Rewaz Garden and link streets in Krishan Nagar subdivision, Ibrahim Road, Munshi Hospital, Hafeez Road in Ravi Road subdivision, New Samanabad in Samanabad subdivision, Rachna Block in Allama Iqbal Town subdivision, P Block Sabzazar in Sabzaar subdivision, Ahmed Yar Block in Mustafa Town subdivision, L Block, P Block and Q Block in Johar Town subdivision, Block 3 C1, Block 3 C II, Block 4 C II and Block 6 CII in Green Town subdivision, Timber Market Road in City subdivision, Tezab Ahata, Sultanpura and Chamra Mandi in Misri Shah subdivision, Gandah Nala Road and Aziz Road in Data Nagar subdivision, Madina Colony and Gulshan-e-Shalimar in Baghbanpura subdivision, Baghichi Saithan and Usmanabad in Mughalpura subdivision and Scheme II, Wasanpura, in Shadbagh subdivision.

According to the proposed plan, all old water supply lines of the selected zones will be replaced with new ones and dedicated tube-wells with filtration plants will be installed in the zones. Every zone will also have a dedicated overhead water tank to store filtered water.

Wasa officials claimed that the pressure of water in the zones would be high to refill the water tanks of the citizens without use of electric motor or water pump. The Wasa MD said meters would be installed at every connection in the selected zones to promote rational use of clean drinking water.

To a question, the Wasa MD said the private housing societies were not included in the scheme.He said more than 500 filtration plants were being operated in the City. He said recently Wasa had disconnected water connections of all service stations across the City while many other measures were underway to save the precious resource of underground water.