KARACHI, March 3: Water supply to Karachi from the Hub Dam is being restored on Tuesday after a gap of over four-and-a-half months, amid persisting water crisis in the metropolis.
On Monday, private water tankers had a field-day in the wake of a two-day (Monday and Tuesday) water closure applied in at least two former districts — East and South — by the city government’s water and sanitation (W&S) department for undertaking repair work at the Pipri leaking pipeline.
The decision on restoration of supply from the Hub Dam was taken at a high-level meeting in Karachi on Monday, following an increase in the water level in the Hub dam reservoir from 276 RL (reservoir level) to 281.10 RL in the wake of recent rains.
The meeting, which was presided over by Sindh’s additional chief secretary (planning and development), decided to draw between 20 and 25 mgd from the Hub source for both Karachi and Lasbella on turn-by-turn basis. The meeting was attended, among others, by senior officials of the Balochistan government, Wapda and the city government’s water and sanitation department.
According to sources, water to the city from the Hub source would be supplied for 72 hours and to Lasbella for 42 hours.
Water supply to the city from the Hub source was suspended on October 16, 2001, when the level in the reservoir touched the dead storage level of 276 RL.
As soon as supply to the city from the Hub dam come to an end in October last, the city government introduced a water-holiday system for localities receiving water from the Indus source to divert it to the localities hooked to the Hub Dam.
However, complaints of water shortage continued to pour in from those localities which were earlier hooked to the Indus source and where a weekly water-holiday system had been introduced after the closure of water from Hub.
The hard-hit areas of the former districts west and parts of central, which had been experiencing an acute water shortage since October last, included Orangi, Baldia, Surjani, North Karachi, Shershah and parts of the Site industrial area.
The water supplying schedule of these townships was planned in such a manner that their turn for water comes after every five days and whenever a gap occurs in their schedule, these localities remain dry for 10 days.
The city Nazim, Naimatullah Khan, who is visiting Hub Dam on Tuesday, is also expected to release the supply from the Hub source to Karachi.
Meanwhile, residents of the water-starved localities complained that private tankers, taking undue advantage of the closure applied by the water and sanitation department, did a roaring business on Monday as they charged between Rs500 and Rs550 per tanker against the normal rate of Rs400.
Repair work on the leaking pipeline, which was initiated on Monday morning, would be completed by Wednesday, an official of the W&S department said, adding that water supply to the affected localities would be restored by Wednesday.
The localities which went without water on Monday, and which would also go dry on Tuesday, included Akhtar Colony, Hazara Colony, Manzoor Colony, Defence Housing Authority, Korangi, Landhi and Korangi Industrial Areas, Cattle Colony, Bin Qasim Town, Korangi Creek, KESC thermal power station, PAF base, National and Pakistan refineries and their adjacent localities.
In addition, water supply to other areas getting the supply from the Indus source also remained suspended on Monday as part of the W&S department’s plan of diverting the Indus water to the areas hooked to the Hub source. The localities included all blocks of North Nazimabad, Federal B. Area, Nazimabad, Shadman Town and Buffer Zone.
