KARACHI: In a major operation against water theft networks, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) has disconnected illegal connections to three major textile units in the city.

Officials of one of the textile mills were booked on Saturday by the Quaidabad police on the complaint of a water utility officer. However, no arrests had been reported till late Monday.

In a statement, the water utility said a major water theft network operating under the guise of textile factories was exposed and dismantled in the Landhi area.

A KWSC spokesperson said the crackdown, conducted near Labour Square Hospital Chowrangi, revealed that three major textile units were directly involved in large-scale water theft, a crime that has worsened the city’s chronic water shortage.

A KWSC team discovered six-inch-diameter illegal sump pumps connected to the Haliji conduit, an underground pipeline, through which the factories were siphoning off thousands of gallons of water daily without authorisation.

“This stolen water, meant for domestic supply, was being used to sustain industrial operations, depriving ordinary citizens of their fair share and worsening the city’s water crisis,” the spokesperson said.

KWSC chief operating officer Asadullah Khan stated that legal action would be taken against all those involved in the theft and no one responsible would be spared.

He warned that any KWSC official found complicit would also face the strictest departmental consequences.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2025