KARACHI, June 24: Prolonged power breakdowns at all major pumping stations of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, except for Dhabeji and Pipri, since Saturday afternoon created a shortfall of over 50 million gallons water, causing acute water shortage in almost every part of the metropolis.
The North-East Karachi pumping station suffered the longest power breakdown, as the power went off at 4.30pm on Saturday and it was restored after 20 hours at 12.30pm on Sunday. The power at the Sakhi Hassan and Banaras Chowk pumping stations went off on Sunday morning and it was not restored till 8.15pm.
Intermittent power supply also affected the Jamia and Chakiwara pumping stations which failed to pump out sewage, inundating roads and streets of old city areas.
Besides, all the three treatment plants of the KWSB (TP-l, TP-II and TP-III), which have been functioning at much below their designed capacity due to a lack of maintenance, ceased to function properly on account of prolonged power failures. As a result, the untreated water being disposed of into the sea increased from 310mgd to 350mgd in the last two days.
In the absence of power supply at major pumping stations, several areas went without water or received scant supply of water on Sunday. The water board officials responsible for water distribution used the method of gravity in the absence of power to supply water, but a number of localities got water with reduced pressure and that too for a shorter duration.
KWSB Chief Engineer (Electrical and Mechanical) Gulzar Memon told Dawn that except Dhabeji and Pipri all pumping stations including Hub PS, COD PS, NEK PS, K-II PS, K-III PS, Gharo PS, LSR (Low Service Reservoir) PS and Dhabeji inter-connection PS, North Naimabad’s Sakhi Hassan PS and Banaras Chowk PS suffered power outages since Saturday 4.30pm.
However, power supply to the Hub station was restored at 1.25am on Sunday and to COD at 1.40am on Sunday while the NEK suffered the longest power breakdown as power supply to this station was restored at 12.30pm on Sunday.
Speaking about the Jamila and Chakiwara sewage pumping stations which also suffered prolonged power breakdowns, he said that had the KWSB not employed generators at both the pumping stations, there would have been a worse situation.
COMPLAINT CELL: KWSB Managing Director Ghulam Arif has set up an emergency cell at the MD Secretariat, situated at 9th Mile Karsaz, to address water and sewerage problems on a priority basis during the monsoon season.
The emergency cell comprising senior officials of the water utility will work round the clock. Citizens have been requested to contact them on following phone numbers: 0300-8286243, 0300-8295579, 0333-2140748, 0320-4301872, 0300-2936980 and 0300-2430067.
Asking the officials to make the towns’ complaint centres effective, all zonal chief engineers, superintending engineers and executive engineers have been directed to keep a strict watch on the water and sewerage systems of their respective zones and towns. Besides, the officials have been asked to ensure that all manholes were covered.
