KARACHI: Unfiltered water being supplied from Hub dam
By Azizullah Sharif
KARACHI, July 21: Despite informal commissioning of a filter plant at the Hub pumping station, about 200 million gallons of unfiltered water per day is still being supplied to various areas and as a result complaints of water-borne diseases continue to pour in newspaper offices. Though the localities receiving water from Hub dam -— the sprawling townships of Orangi, Baldia, Surjani, Qasba and parts of SITE — have recently started getting filtered water following installation of an 80-mgd filter plant, still various localities were being supplied either totally unfiltered water or a mixture of filtered and raw water to the tune of 197mgd. The plant started its test operation recently.
In all, there are eight filter plants, having a total capacity of 345 mgd whereas the city gets 542 mgd -– 450 mgd from Indus source, 90 mgd from Hub source and 2mgd from Dumlottee -– which means that 197 mgd still remains to be filtered.
The 70-mgd capacity COD filter plant was installed in 1962 while the North-East-Karachi-K2 (100mgd) plant was established in 1998; the North-East-Karachi-Old (25mgd) plant was commissioned in 1978; Pipri-I (25mgd) plant was installed in 1971; Pipri-II plant of 25mgd was set up in 1978; Gharo-I plant of 10 mgd was installed in 1949; Gharo-II plant of 10 mgd was set up in 1953 and Hub filter plant of 80mgd which started operation a month back.
Insiders told Dawn that at a time when the KWSB was not in a position to filter a total of 542 mgd, its two 10 mgd each filter plants at Gharo, have outlived their life, and as such they are not being run to their full capacity. These two plants were installed in 1949 and 1953.
Similarly, 100 mgd NEK-K2 filter plant was not working to its full capacity as its filter media has not been changed since its installation in 1998 although it is supposed to be changed after every three years.
“Isn’t it surprising that the KWSB established an 80 mgd capacity plant at the Hub with a Japanese loan despite knowing that the quota from Hub source is 100 mgd,” the sources remarked, saying “even today the city is being supplied 90 mgd from the Hub source.”
The sources said on the one hand, about 200 mgd remains unfiltered and, on the other, even the filtered water is usually infected with bacteria between the filter plants and the local pump houses owing to leaking pipelines. They cited official figures of water losses which ranged between 30 and 35 per cent (180 mgd).
They sources were, however, optimistic that the KWSB would be able to provide filtered water to citizens if the board implements the Sindh governor’s recent directives about proposed installation of mini-filter plants at all local pumping stations, so that piped water is filtered at two places, and is saved from being infected.
