KARACHI, Dec 26: Almost entire city will remain in grip of serious water crisis for at least four to five days because it had already suffered a shortfall of over 200 million gallons of water in the wake of major power breakdowns that kept on occurring at the Dhabeji, Pipri and Gharo pumping stations on Monday and Tuesday.
Pumping from Dhabeji, Pipri and Gharo came to an abrupt halt first at 1.50am on Tuesday when power supply went off reportedly because of tripping.
As soon as Dhabeji-Pipri circuit tripped, water started rushing back and as a result of push back pressure, the KWSB’s 72-inch dia RCC rising main was burst, flooding the Dhabeji Pump House.
The KWSB officials remained busy in draining out water from the pump house throughout Monday-Tuesday night and also succeeded in replacing the damaged parts of the 11-KV high voltage panel by early Tuesday morning.
Though the water supply to the city from Dhabeji pump house was restored at 8am on Tuesday, pumping of water remained suspended twice on Tuesday — first from 9.10am to 9.50am and again from 2.45pm to 5.45pm — due to tripping of feeder No 1 of the pump house.
However, power supply to feeder No 1 once again went off at 3.30am on Wednesday and it was restored at 8.30am, causing an overall shortage of water to the tune of 200mgd, the KWSB official said, apprehending that the entire city will continue to face an unprecedented short supply of water for about a week if the KESC failed to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
With regard to the burst pipeline, he said that although repairing of the same was still being carried out, water supply to the city has been restored at 8.30pm on Wednesday through another standby 72-inch dia pipeline.
Over the frequent power failures at the KWSB’s major water installations, the Board’s managing director, Brig Mohammad Behram Khan, contacted Sindh governor Mohammedmian Soomro and the City Nazim, Naimatullah Khan, to inform them about the gravity of the situation and also requested the KESC officials to ensure uninterrupted power supply at the KWSB’s major installations.