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KARACHI, Sept 21: Various parts of Orangi, Baldia, North Karachi and Surjani Towns have been facing acute water shortage for the last one week, forcing the residents of these poor and low-income localities to consume sub-soil unhygienic water.
Admitting the persisting water shortage in these sprawling townships, KWSB sources attributed it to the reduced quantity of water currently being supplied to the city from the drying up Hub dam reservoir.
They said that though Wapda officials, manning the Hub dam’s reservoir as per decision of the high-level committee for Hub water, were required to supply 35 million gallons of water daily for three consecutive days after a gap of every two days, “the KWSB has been receiving only about 36 million gallons of water during all the three days of its turn.”
They claimed that the city received only 12 million gallons of water on Saturday, which was the last day of this week’s turn of receiving water from the Hub source and the next turn would start from Tuesday.
“Because of the short supply of water from the Hub source, the KWSB officials are not able to ensure equitable distribution of water in the localities hooked to the Hub source,” they maintained.
Asked what system had been evolved to provide water to these townships, they claimed that all these areas were being supplied water for three consecutive days after every two days.
However, contrary to the KWSB’s claims, the residents of the affected sectors said they had been receiving scanty supply after every four days.
Endorsing the residents’ claim, Nazim and Naib Nazim of Orangi Town’s Union Council No-9, Shehnaz Perveen and Amin Baloch, said all the affected sectors of the Township were being supplied a small quantity of water for only two hours, after a gap of every four days.
According them, the worst affected areas included Ali Nagar, Makhdoom Shah Colony, Ghausia Baloch Colony, Pakistan Bazaar, Warsia Colony, Iqbal Baloch Colony, sector 15-D, Thorium Goth, Fero-shia Colony, Shamsi Colony and adjoining areas.
FILTHY WATER: Complaints of receiving contaminated water continued to pour into newspaper offices from residents of the green belt area of PECHS Block 6 and Mehmoodabad.
The people said although hundreds of houses had continuously been receiving stinking water for the last one week, the KWSB officials have, so far, failed to rectify the fault responsible for the supply of contaminated water.
A resident of PECHS (green belt) area said that on the one hand hundreds of houses were being supplied stinking water, while on the other, filthy water gushing out from choked sewerage line had started accumulating on the playground of their locality, causing stinking and unhygienic environment.
Deploring that all their complaints, which they had been lodging with the KWSB from time to time, have remained unheeded, the residents urged the City Nazim and the KWSB managing-director to direct the officials to rectify the fault without any delay otherwise, they feared that abdominal diseases would spread in their localities.
