KARACHI, June 5: The city governments water and sanitation department on Thursday failed to give any explanation about the three successive pipeline bursts that occurred in a short span of only 19 days.
The insensitivity that rules the W&S department could be gauged from the fact that its officials neither disclosed the causes of the pipelines bursts nor felt it necessary to inform the consumers of the affected localities as to how much time would be required to repair the burst pipelines and when their supply would be restored.
Three pipelines a 48-inch dia pipeline near North Nazimabads KDA Chowrangi, a 66-inch dia rising main at the Hub pumping station and an 18-inch dia pipeline near NIPA Chowrangi burst on May 15, June 3 and June 4 respectively.
Though no official version was made available with regard to the pipelines which burst on June 3 and 4, insiders told Dawn that the main cause of their rupture was faulty valve operation. In fact the officials concerned failed to ensure that all the valves were opened prior to the release of water to those lines, and the water pressure resulted in the ruptures, a source said.
However, in a belated explanation given for the 66-inch dia Hub rising main, a spokesman for the W&S department said that initially a valve of the Hub pumping stations rising main was damaged during some construction work of a pumping station. The repair work on the damaged valve was completed in a few hours, but while it was on a leakage developed in the same main at some distance, which could not be plugged as the main was at that time supplying water to the city from the Hub canal.
The rising main has worn out and the W&S department has decided to replace it under the K-3 project, whereby the city will also get additional 100 mgd, the spokesman added.
IMPACT: Various parts of the city on Thursday either went dry or received scant supply owing to a burst that occurred in an 18-inch dia pipeline on Wednesday.
The hard-hit areas included Gulshan-i-Iqbals blocks 10, 10-A, 11, AVQ Society located behind Aladin amusement park, KDA Lal Flats, Askari-4, Dalmia Colony, Shanti Nagar, North Karachis sectors 11-A, 11-B, 11-J, 5C-2 and 5C-3, different sectors of the townships of Baldia and Orangi, Shershah, SITE, Cliftons Block 2, Mehmoodabad No 6, Manzoor Colony, Akhtar Colony, parts of Lyari, Pakistan Chowk and Haquani Chowk.
Residents of the affected localities of Gulshan-i-Iqbal said they went without water on Wednesday and Thursday due to the burst, and they would continue to be deprived of water even on Friday under the weekly water-holiday system in vogue in different parts of the city since October last.
Moreover, the other localities where water supply remained suspended on Thursday under the water and sanitation departments weekly water-holiday system included Landhi, Korangi, Defence Housing Authority, National Refinery, Karachi Port Trust, Pakistan Railways, PAF (Korangi) Base and its adjoining areas.
CLOSURE: The parts of the city where water supply would remain suspended on Friday include Gulshan-i-Iqbals blocks 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 10-A, 13-A, 13-B, 16, 17 and 18.
The persisting water shortage in various parts of the city has given a boost to the sale of private tankers and forced low and middle-income people to consume subsoil unhygienic water at the cost of their health.
Residents of different parts of the city have complained that although the W&S department claims it implements water-holiday once a week in the localities hooked to the Indus source on rotation basis, their localities often go dry for at least two days.
In October last year the W&S department introduced the weekly water-holiday system in the localities hooked to the Indus source.
