KARACHI: Water-starved residents of many localities will have to wait a couple more days for regular water supply, as the electricity supply to a pumping house at the Dhabeji pumping station is yet to be restored, it emerged on Monday.

A major power breakdown at the pumping station three days ago has led to a severe water crisis in the city, leaving almost every locality with dry taps.

Since the major power failure at the Dhabeji Pumping Station, there has been a total shortfall of over 350 million gallons per day (MGD) in the city, which receives only around 650 MGD against a daily requirement of 1,250 MGD.

A spokesperson for the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), the city’s sole water utility, told Dawn that two feeders of a pumping house — known as the K-III Pumping House — at the Dhabeji Pumping Station had remained shut for the past 96 hours.

Over 350 MGD additional water shortfall hits Karachi as cable fault at Dhabeji pumping station yet to be rectified

K-Electric attributed the outage to an underground cable fault, stating that repair efforts were hindered by accumulated rainwater. They said power would be restored once the water had drained.

The KWSC spokesperson said that the fault, which occurred at 10pm on June 26, remained unresolved and had caused two main water pumps at the K-III Pumping House to cease operations.

“The outage has resulted in a staggering shortfall of over 350 MGD, and parts of districts East and Central — including Nazimabad, New Karachi, Landhi and Korangi — are facing severe disruptions in water supply,” he said.

He added that 70 MGD of water used to be pumped to the city from the K-III Pumping House, which had now been shut due to the power outage. “However, 70 MGD is currently being supplied from the K-II Pumping House at the Dhabeji Pumping Station,” he noted.

The spokesperson said there had been another breakdown at the Damloti Pumping Station, which resulted in the suspension of water supply to areas such as Malir, Khokrapar, Memon Goth and Malir Cantt.

He added that while power supply to the Damloti Pumping Station had been restored at 3pm on Sunday, it was again disrupted after 20 minutes.

“The power supply to the pumping station was restored late in the night,” he said, adding that the prolonged disruption had badly affected routine water supply.

Published in Dawn, july 1st, 2025