KARACHI, July 2: Water supply to various parts of the city was affected badly on Wednesday because of frequent power failures which occurred at different pumping stations.

Admitting that power failures, whose duration ranged between two and nine hours, occurred on at least eight pumping stations of different localities, senior officials of the city government’s water and sanitation department said that such power breakdowns resulted in shortfall of about four million gallons of water on Wednesday.

The localities which suffered a water scarcity in the wake power failures included Shershah, Pak Colony, Gulbai, Firdous Colony, SITE, Banaras Chowk and Baldia Town.

A spokesman for the W&S department said that pumping of water from different pump houses remained suspended from two to nine hours as there was no electricity at Shershah’s Paracha Chowk pumping station, Gulbai pumping station, Pak Colony pumping station, Firdous pumping station, Shershah (SITE) pumping station, Baldia pumping station and Banaras Chowk pumping station.

Meanwhile, people residing in multi-storied residential complexes complained that they experienced acute water shortage on Wednesday as they could not pump water to their buildings’ overhead tanks due to frequent and prolonged power failures.

Moreover, the other localities which went without water on Wednesday as part of the W&S department plan of diverting Indus water to the localities hooked to the Hub source included Old City Area, Garden East, Garden West, Soldier Bazaar, Saddar, Shikarpur Colony, Cosmopolitan Society and parts of Lyari.

Complaints of persisting water shortage have also been received from different sectors of North Karachi, Clifton’s blocks 4 and 5, Mianwalli Colony and Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s Block 10.

Residents of Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s Block 10 complained that although they have been deprived of water for the last four days, officials of the water and sanitation department have not yet bothered to restore the supply despite a number of complaints have been lodged with them.

According to them, the apartment buildings which have been without water for the last four days are Suleman Plaza, Evershine Apartments, Maimar Drive, Park View, Raza Square, AL-Hassan Apartments, Noman Plaza, Unique Complex, Safari View and A-One Comforts.

Residents of North Karachi’s sectors 5C-2, 5C-4, 11-A, 11-B, 11-J and 11-E regretted that although water supply to their localities is often disrupted, the concerned officials are taking no measures to ensure uninterrupted supply, thereby forcing them to either consume sub-soil unhygienic water at the cost of their health or buy tankers at exorbitant rates.

Residents of the affected localities said that persisting water shortage in the current hot and sultry weather has made their lives miserable

Closure: The localities where water supply would remain suspended on Thursday under weekly water-holiday system include Landhi, Korangi, Defence Housing Authority, National Refinery, Karachi Port Trust and Pakistan Railways.