KARACHI, June 28: The Wapda officials on Saturday released 25 million gallons of water to the Hub Canal from the Hub source and the areas hooked to the source will start getting the supply from Sunday.
Water supply to the city from the Hub source has been restored after a gap of 24 days, as the supply from the source was earlier stopped on June 4, following level of water in the dam’s reservoir had touched 277 RL (Reservoir Level) which was only a feet above the dead storage level.
However, the reservoir’s level went up by three feet in the wake of recent rains in the dam’s catchment area, increasing its level to 280 feet from the sea level.
The Water and Sanitation department’s sources said that under an agreed upon formula, both Karachi and Lasbella would be supplied 25 million gallons of water, on turn-by-turn basis, in such a manner that Karachi would be supplied water for three consecutive days and Lasbella for two consecutive days. A senior official of water department told Dawn that with the restoration of supply from the Hub source, the gap between the supply to the localities hooked to the Hub source would be curtailed from existing 101 hours to 72 hours.
He said that the localities which would benefit from the restoration of supply from the Hub source include sprawling townships of Orangi, Baldia, North Karachi and Shershah. He said that if both Karachi and Lasbella continued to draw water at the rate of 25mgd, water supply from the Hub source to both the beneficiaries would be enough for next two months. Water supply to the city from the Hub source was first stopped in December, 1999, because its catchment area had remained dry during last four consecutive monsoon seasons. However, supply to the city from the source was restored in the third week of August, 2001, following its catchment area had received rains in the monsoon season of 2000. Water supply from the Hub dam source was again suspended on Oct 16, 2002, and was restored on March 4, this year, and the city continued to draw about 15mgd water till June 4, when supply from the source once again came to a halt. It is since June 5, all the areas hooked to the Hub source were being supplied water after diverting Indus water from three pumping stations set up at North-East Karachi (K-2), Ajmair Nagri and Board office.
However, following stoppage of water supply to the city from the Hub source, the water department had increased the gap of supplying water to Baldia, Orangi-36, Orangi L Block and North Karachi, by four hours. But with the restoration of supply, the old system of supplying water to these localities i.e. after every 72 hours, would be restored in a couple of days, a senior official of the W&S department said.
SHORTAGE: : Various parts of the city on Saturday either went without water or received scant supply owing to short supply of 59mgd to the city from Dhabeji pumping station.
A W&S spokesman attributed the water shortage to a seven-hour power shutdown applied by the KESC at the Dhabeji’s two sub-stations for undertaking repair and maintenance work of the sub-stations, as well as of Phase-II and III of Dhabeji’s pumping station.
“The maintenance work has been completed and the city’s water supply position will be normalized by early Sunday morning,” sources said.
Moreover, the other localities which went without water on Saturday under weekly water-holiday system included all blocks of PECHS, KDA Scheme-1, Sharfabad, Karachi Television Centre, Karachi Administration Cooperative Housing Society, Civic Centre and its adjoining localities, Mehmoodabad No 5, Liaquatabad, Gharibabad, Furqanabad, Bandhani Colony, parts of Nazimabad, Liaquat National Hospital and Aga Khan Hospital.
Meanwhile, residents of Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s blocks 10 and 11 complained that although they are without water for the last three days, the concerned officials have not yet bothered to take measures for restoring the supply.
