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KARACHI, June 1: Various parts of the city have been facing a water crisis for over a fortnight due to the lack of coordination between the KWSB’s water distribution system and Water Trunk Main (WTM) division (Bulk Supply).
As the blame game between these key departments continues, the ultimate sufferers of this absurd situation are the consumers, who have to live with little or scant water supply in the current sultry weather.
Power breakdowns, which occurred twice at the Hub pumping station recently, have also badly affected the water supply position of almost the entire city.
Some of the hardest hit areas included Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Shaheed-i-Millat Road, Mehmoodabad, Manzoor Colony, Federal B Area, Clifton, Ramswami, Ranchore Line, Baghdadi, Kalri, Nawabad and Daryabad. Residents complained that whenever they succeed in getting hold of the chief engineers or the executive engineers of their respective zones, they (engineers) simply shifted the blame to the officials of the WTM division. The complainants were told that the volume of water supplied was much less than the quota, hence the engineers were unable to ensure a judicious supply in their respective zones.
POWER FAILIURE: The KWSB Chief Engineer (Electrical and Mechanical), Gulzar Memon, admitted that the city on Friday suffered a shortfall of 24 million gallons of water owing to the non-availability of electricity twice at the Hub pumping station.
The first breakdown occurred from 12 midnight to 4.30am on Friday and again from 4pm to 5.30pm on the same day, he told Dawn. He said these frequent power failures taking place at the water distribution pumping stations (local pumping stations) were affecting the water supply position of almost the entire city.
Asked about the impact of short supply from the Hub pumping station, he said that the water supply of a number of towns hooked to the pumping station including Site, Baldia, Orangi, North Karachi and parts of Surjani will be affected badly on Saturday as well.
Moreover, frequent power failures occurring at local pumping stations of Saudabad, Sakhi Hassan and Shah Faisal are also responsible for creating water shortage problems in the localities hooked to these pumping stations, he added.
To a question whether the KWSB has asked the KESC to exempt the pumping stations from load-shedding, he replied in the affirmative, saying that all such requests have, so far, remained unheeded.
However, the residents of all those localities which are in the grip of an acute water shortage said that it was beyond their comprehension why they were being deprived of water when their localities are neither supplied from Hub nor fed water from other local pumping stations where, according to the KWSB, power breakdowns have become routine.
