KARACHI, June 23: Frequent power failures at many pumping stations on Thursday played havoc with the city’s water distribution system, depriving various parts of the city of water in the current hot and humid weather. Confirming that various parts of the city either went dry or received scant supply on Thursday, sources in that KWSB attributed this to frequent power failures which occurred at as many as 12 local pumping stations on Thursday.
They pointed out that duration of power cuts at pumping stations ranged between half-an-hour and eight hours.
According to the sources, the affected pumping stations included those at Sakhi Hassan, Maskan, Ajmair Nagri, New Karachi (Saba Cinema), Board Office, Federal B’ Area, Gulshan-i-Iqbal(block 6), Shipowners’ College, Dumlottee, LSR (Low Supply Reservoir) and Pipri.
The affected localities were several blocks of North Nazimabad, Federal B’ Area, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Azeem Goth, different sectors of North Karachi, Buffer Zone, New Karachi, parts of Orangi Town, Banaras and SITE (both residential and industrial areas).
Residents of these areas told Dawn that in the absence of the piped water, they had no choice but to either purchase the expensive private tankers or consume sub-soil unhygienic water at the cost of their health.
Taking undue advantage of the situation, private tankers did a roaring business in the water-starved localities by charging exorbitant rates, they complained.
In Malir, where an acute water shortage persists for a fortnight, the concerned engineers have failed to plug a leaking valve of a 33-inch-dia pipeline causing spillage of a considerable quantity of water over the past few days, according to sources.
Meanwhile, people residing in multi-storeyed buildings complained that they were unable to pump water into their overhead tanks due to frequent power failures and low-voltage problems.
CONTAMINATION: At least three localities — Asifabad, Willayatabad and Zuberi Colony – of SITE Town are being supplied contaminated water for the last 15 days.
Residents of the affected localities deplored that in spite of having lodged a number of complaints with KWSB officials, they had not yet been provided any relief as no measures to rectify the fault had been taken.
Suspecting that sewage water might be seeping in to the pipelines of potable water, they urged the city nazim and KWSB managing director to help sort out the problem.
It may be mentioned here that the localities which received no or short water supply on Thursday owing to power failures will continue to face a similar situation for another couple of days due to rotation system.
…SEWAGE OVERFLOW: The overflow of sewage on I. I. Chundrigar Road and other arteries of the old city areas during the past few days have been attributed to power failures at the Clifton’s sewage pumping station.
According to sources, the sewage pumping station remained out of order due to power failure for two hours on Wednesday. This led to the accumulation of sewage in the pipelines and ultimately to the overflow.
