KARACHI, Aug 27: The water level in Hub dam’s reservoir increased by one foot on Tuesday, in the wake of rainfall, when water collected in its catchment area on Monday.
KWSB sources said that the rain, which started pouring in Hub’s catchment area from 6pm on Monday and continued intermittently till the early hours of Tuesday, had raised its level of water from 279.30 RL (Reservoir Level) to 280.50 RL.
Asked whether the increase in the dam’s reservoir level will have any positive impact on the city’s supply of water from the Hub source, they replied in the affirmative, saying that the increase in the reservoir’s water level by one foot was enough to continue water supply to the city from the source for another 12 to 15 days.
Terming the rains a ‘boon’ for the localities hooked to the Hub source, the KWSB officials, who about a week back had predicted that the supply to the city from the source will come to a halt by early September, hoped that since the level in the Hub dam’s reservoir has now increased by one foot, the city might continue to get the supply from Hub at least till mid-September.
Water supply to the city from the Hub source was earlier stopped in December, 1999, because its catchment area had remained dry during the last four consecutive monsoon seasons.
However, supply to the city from the source was restored in the third week of August, 2001, as its catchment area had received rains in the monsoon season of 2000.
The sources said that the city was currently being supplied between 20 and 22 million gallons after every 72 hours from the Hub source, although Wapda officials — in accordance with the decision of a high-level committee on Hub water — were supposed to release 45 mgd to the Hub canal after every two days for three consecutive days.
Water crisis: Various parts of former districts West and Central experienced an acute water shortage on Tuesday, owing to the power breakdowns that affected the city on Monday.
The hard-hit areas included several sectors of North Karachi, Orangi, Baldia, Shershah, Surjani Town and parts of the SITE industrial area.
Attributing the water shortage to the frequent power breakdowns that had kept occurring at the KWSB’s pumping stations on Monday, KWSB sources said that the pumping of water at Ajmer Nagri and North-East Karachi’s Old and K-2 pumping stations had remained suspended for five hours (from 1 pm to 6 pm) on Monday, and as a result, these stations pumped 10 million gallons less of water.
Residents of the affected townships told Dawn that their localities, which had already been experiencing water shortage for the last one month, either remained totally dry or received scant supply not only on Monday but on Tuesday as well.
Complaints of persisting water shortage have also been received from the residents of Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s Block 2.
Residents of a multi-storied housing project — ‘Ambreen Apartments,’ situated in Gulshan Block 2 complained that although their project often remained dry, the officials concerned of the KWSB have not yet taken measures to restore regular and normal supply of water, despite the fact that a number of complaints had been lodged with them.
Stinking supply: People residing in Baghdadi and Napier Quarters have complained that they have been getting stinking water for the last few weeks.
They said it was due to a seepage of sewage into the water pipeline which could not be rectified so far despite repeated requests made to the concerned authorities.
Reports of contaminated water supply were also received from people of Kamil Gali and Sarafa Bazaar, who complained that although they had been getting stinking water for the last one month, the authorities have failed to solve the lingering problem.
They urged the City Nazim to order the concerned officials to expedite the repair work on the leaking sewerage line, otherwise epidemic diseases might spread in the locality.