AMID rising temperatures, the demand for water has also peaked in Karachi. As a result, the city now faces yet another water crisis, which is further aggravated by K-Electric’s inefficiency.

Water supply to various areas of the city, from local pumping stations, is severely affected owing to hours-long power outages, leaving its residents deprived of the basic commodity. This has been confirmed by people at the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board — this water supply to the city is disrupted owing to prolonged power outages.

The demand for water in Karachi has increased to 1.2 billion gallons, while the KWSB is only able to supply up to 550 million gallons of water to the city. As a result, the city faces a shortfall of 650 million gallons of water. Besides, another reason for the prevalent water crisis is the unfair distribution of water.

Presently, there are 300 local pumping stations in the city from which water supply mostly remains suspended due to load-shedding and so far, no step has been taken by the Sindh government to resolve the issue.

Sadia Jamil

Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2019