ON July 14, 1976, the water supply to the city was disrupted due to a rupture in the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) syphon (No: 20) — one of the two main water pipelines of 84-inch diameter supplying 70 million gallons to Karachi on a daily basis. The incident took place at 4am and the water inundated vast areas near the National Institute of Public Administration (Nipa). Part of University Road was also submerged. About 15m gallons of water was estimated to have been lost until midnight. Talking to the media, KDA’s chief engineer Aminul Islam, who supervised the work after the disruption, said: “It is difficult to say anything about the nature of the damage until all the water is pumped out from the spot.” The syphon was situated near Nipa. It, through two lines — one of 70MGD and the other of 45MGD — pumped the water to COD Hills Filter Plant for storage and distribution to city areas. The burst occurred in the 70MGD pipeline. The second pipeline was intact and functioning properly. Due to the situation, water was to be supplied to the city in reduced quantities through the second source. KDA officials opined that the reason for the burst appeared to be gradual erosion of the syphon laid out 20 years ago by the Karachi Joint Water Board. They were of the view that full water supply could be restored by July 18 after repair work was carried out. The breach affected a large number of industrial units in the SITE area, too. The worst-hit were textile and silk mills which depended heavily on water for dyeing and processing of products.

On July 16, Chief Minister of Sindh Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi in a statement said the cause of the pipeline burst would be investigated thoroughly. “If it is proved that it was caused either on account of any negligence of officials concerned or due to tampering of the pipeline, the persons found responsible would be given the most severe punishment.” He said the probe would start as soon as the repairs were done and the supply was restored. Mr Jatoi, addressing the people of Karachi, claimed he would ensure that the ‘incident is not repeated’.

On July 17, as per indicated, the damaged pipelines were replaced and it was thought that the restoration of water supply to the city would take place sometime on July 18.

Interestingly, on the night of July 17, the city received the season’s first heavy downpour. The rain, which began at 10pm, continued until past midnight, accompanied by thunder and lightning.

It was a turbulent week in more ways than the water-related disturbance. On July 13, over 1,500 students of the NED Engineering College stayed away from classes in protest against the delay in the announcement by the government of granting university status to the college. An emergency general body meeting of the students deplored the government’s ‘cold attitude’ towards the youngsters’ problems. Later in the day, a delegation of the students went to see the Provincial Education Minister, Pyarali Allana, but were unable to meet him. They termed the minister’s attitude ‘cold’ as well.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2026