KARACHI, Aug 21: Various parts of the city remained in the grip of acute water shortage for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday, forcing residents of the affected localities to either consume sub-soil unhygienic water or purchase water from tankers at exorbitant rates.

The hard-hit localities included parts of the PECHS blocks 2 and 6, Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s blocks 10, 13-D, 13-D/1 and 13-D/3, Clifton’s Block 2, Manzoor Colony, Mehmoodabad, Khokarapar, Ranchore Line, Shah Faisal Colony, Malir, and various sectors of North Karachi, Orangi and Baldia towns.

Attributing the situation to faulty distribution system, sources in the KWSB claimed that though the city was getting its normal supply from both the Indus and Hub sources, the officials responsible for ensuring equal distribution of water in the city had not yet managed to switch over to the old water supplying schedule.

The old schedule of various localities had been recently changed to offset the shortfall of 136 million gallons of water that occurred at a number of major pumping stations, including Pipri and Dhabeji, in the wake of a recent major power breakdown.

Sources were, however, optimistic that the water supply position of all the affected localities would be normalized either by Monday or Tuesday.