KP govt to install water meters, replace rusted pipeline to curb water losses in major cities

The Local Government, Elections and Rural Development Department (LGE&RDD), under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project (KPCIP), has decided to install flow (water) meters as part of its modernizing water conservation efforts.
The department has also been installing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems on all tube-wells and replacing rusted pipelines in four divisional cities of the province under KPCIP.
Hailed as a step toward improved water governance, the initiative aims to curb non-revenue water; water that is extracted and pumped into the system but does not generate revenue and is largely wasted at the consumer end.
Officials said the groundwater table in Peshawar, Kohat, Abbottabad, and Mingora is under severe stress due to population growth and worsening climate impacts. They said flow meters would help monitor consumption and control over-extraction, which in turn would reduce energy use and operational costs for Water and Sanitation Services Companies (WSSCs). Moreover, lower extraction, they added, could help slow the depletion of groundwater.
Alongside metering, KPCIP is replacing old and rusted pipelines to reduce leakages and improve drinking water quality. According to project data, 353 kilometers of pipeline are being replaced in Kohat, 577 kilometers in Mingora, 15 kilometers in Peshawar, and 200 kilometers in Abbottabad.
Data obtained from WSSCs show that groundwater levels in all four cities have been steadily declining and could fall beyond natural recharge capacity if corrective steps are not taken. As a result, utilities are struggling to meet demand, particularly during peak summer months. To reduce losses within the system and at the consumer end, authorities are modernizing infrastructure through both metering and pipeline replacement.
Water demand already exceeds supply in the cities. WSSC Mingora currently extracts about seven million gallons per day (MGD) against a demand of 11 MGD. Similarly, WSSC Abbottabad extracts 3.5 MGD while demand stands at seven MGD, a gap largely attributed to declining aquifers. The remaining demand is either met through private borewells or the provision of water tankers. Officials at the WSSCs also said that due to overextraction, many tubewells have gone dry and leading caving-in phenomenon.
A 2024 study titled “Impact of Land Use Dynamics on Groundwater Table in Abbottabad City, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” found that the city’s built-up area expanded from 1,575.1 hectares in 2008 to 1,897.5 hectares in 2018. As a result, groundwater levels in different parts of the city are declining at rates ranging from 0.17 to 4 feet per year, the study noted.
Similarly, another study, “Impact of Built Environment on Groundwater Depletion in Peshawar, Pakistan,” shows that between 1981 and 2017, population growth pushed daily freshwater demand from 56 million liters to more than 213 million liters, nearly quadrupling consumption. During the same period, built-up areas expanded from 3.70 percent to 16.27 percent of total land, reducing infiltration by about 4 percent.
“As concrete spread, recharge shrank groundwater replenishment declined from 108.75 mm per year in 1981 to 91.35 mm per year in 2014, tightening the squeeze on already stressed aquifers,” the study states.
Officials believe that improved monitoring through SCADA systems, combined with infrastructure upgrades, could help reduce losses, rationalize extraction, and slow the pace of groundwater depletion a critical step as cities face rising demand and shrinking natural recharge.