HYDERABAD, Dec 30: Only 30 per cent water is left in the Water and Sanitation Agency's two lagoons, which will be supplied to residents of the city under a rationing system.

Wasa managing director Shaukat Hayat Bhutto on Thursday said the rationing would particularly affect tail-end areas of Hyderabad's three talukas where water would be supplied through tankers.

He said if the rationing was adopted, Wasa would be able to supply 20MGD of filtered water for another six days but people would have to minimize the use water to avoid an acute water shortage.

Wasa has not been able to desilt its two lagoons, a work which is part of the Rs120 million project given by the Sindh governor following a water crisis in the city in May-June.

Due to heavy silting, the lagoons' storage capacity has reduced by 100MGD. According to Wasa, the sudden change in schedule of annual closure of the river has also hit the storage process with the result that 300MGD could be stored against 400MGD water.

Besides storage, Wasa has been lifting around 15MGD of water from the river directly from the combined channel to feed areas connected with the filter plant. Hussainabad, Latifabad, Paretabad and Hala Naka areas are, however, getting raw water without any reduction in supply.

The tail-end areas of the city, including American Quarters, Effendi Town, Hali Road, Tando Yousuf and Amani Shah, Mujahid Colony, units 11 and 12 of Latifabad, Sehrish Nagar, Soomro Goth and HDA bungalows, will be affected due to the rationing.

When contacted by District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman, Sindh irrigation secretary Ashfaq Memon said he would visit the city on Sunday to study the situation.

The Wasa managing director said it took Wasa around 25 days to fill the lagoons to capacity and sudden changes in schedule of annual closure affected the water storage. He maintained that Wasa was informed about the change in the schedule on Dec 16 and the closure began on Dec 20.

He said initially the water supply was curtailed by 40 per cent but it was further reduced by 10 per cent. However, the irrigation secretary told this correspondent that the closure had been duly notified on Dec 4.

He said if inspection of the barrage was completed, water could be released in the combined water channel by Jan 3, otherwise, it would be released on Jan 5. He said at Kotri downstream, 1,800 cusecs of fresh water was being released daily, adding that until Wednesday, Wasa had been pumping water from the combined channel.

TRADERS: The Anjuman Tajiran-i-Sindh has convened an all-Sindh traders' convention on Jan 14 in Hyderabad to discuss the situation arising out of lawlessness, highway robberies, kidnappings, inefficient performances of local councils and frequent load sheddings, which is having a telling effects on economic activities in the province.

This decision was taken at a meeting of the organization recently held here. Zakir Bin Zahid presided over the meeting which was attended by representatives of various trade organizations of Hyderabad's three talukas. The meeting said the traders' convention would discuss these issues and chalk out the future course of action.