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KARACHI, Aug 19: The city will receive 20MGD less water for the next three days as the 72-inch dia rising main of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, supplying water from Dhabeji to Karachi, burst at 3am on Tuesday
A KWSB spokesman told PPI that the 4.5km line being obsolete could not sustain the pressure. He said repair work had been undertaken and it was expected to be completed in the next 72 hours.
When asked which areas would suffer as a result of the pipeline burst, he said the city would receive 20MGD less water from the normal supply for which alternative measures were being taken and hopefully no city area would suffer due to short supply of water.
OLD LINE: A KWSB spokesman said this line was laid in 1957 and was commissioned in 1963 and, therefore, had completed 46 years of its life as against the designed age of 25 to 30 years.
The RCC pre-stressed pipeline is 4.5km long and rises to a 220 feet high hillock from where it supplies water to the city under the gravity system.
The Water Board said that Karachi was supplied water through seven rising mains of 72inch dia. Of them, five lines were made of steel pipes and remaining of pre-stressed RCC pipes.
This RCC pipeline has experienced 10 bursts in the past and runs along the rising main which burst near Dhabeji last month.
With 20MGD reduction in water supply, the areas in tail-end will receive water with less pressure and this shortfall will constitute 4 to 5 per cent of the total water supply.
It may be mentioned here that 475MGD water is supplied to Dhabeji pumping station from river Indus.
Meanwhile, heavy machinery has been moved for the repair of the affected line.—PPI/APP
