KARACHI, March 30: Water level at Hub Dam’s reservoir has further increased by one foot in the wake of rains across its catchment area over the last 48 hours.
Sources said that the rains, which started pouring-in on Thursday and continued intermittently till Saturday, had brought water level in the reservoir up to 281 Reservoir Level (RL). As such, they added, Karachi would now continue to receive a normal supply from the Hub source till the end of June.
Water level in the dam’s reservoir had dropped to 280RL two days back but the fresh spell of rain had covered the deficit enabling the city government’s Water and Sanitation Department to draw 20 million gallons of water after every 48 hours for the localities hooked to the Hub source.
Explaining the positive impact on the supply position, the sources said that the one-foot raise in the reservoir level was enough to maintain the normal supply to the Hub-hooked localities for about three weeks. Referring to the earlier position, they said that the metropolis was expected to stop receiving water from the Hub sources by the end of May.
The Hub sources has resumed supply to Karachi and Lasbela from March 4 on rotation basis i.e. for 72 hours to Karachi and for 48 hours to Lasbela.
Water supply from Hub to the metropolis was last stopped in October 2002 after water level in the dam’s reservoir dropped to its dead storage level of 276RL. The stoppage had prompted the W&S Department to introduce water-holiday system shortly afterwards. The system was meant for the localities getting the supply from the Indus source. The conserved water was eventually diverted to the areas hooked to the Hub source regularly as part of the strategy to overcome the crisis which had hit the sprawling towns of Baldia, Orangi, Surjani, North Karachi, Shershah, Site industrial area, etc.
Under the water-holiday system, the W&S Department had been suspending supply to some specific localities once in a week to spare water for deficit areas.
Though water supply from Hub source to the shortage-hit localities was restored on March 4 this year, following widespread rains and the ultimate rise in the reservoir up to five feet, the holiday system was not done away with. The authorities had contended that the quantity of water being received from the Hub source was not enough to meet the total requirement of the localities hooked to the Hub source.
POWER BREAKDOWN: Water supply to various localities of Jamshed Town and Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town was badly hit once again on Saturday owing to a prolonged power failure at LSR (Low Service Reservoir) and its hydrant on Friday.
Sources in the W&S Department said that power supply at the LSR feeding the two towns went off at 4.30pm on Friday and was restored at 7pm on Saturday.
Tanker service from the LSR hydrant, belonging to the W&S Department, also remained suspended during the 14-1/2 hour-power breakdown period that gave a big boost to the private tankers’ sales in the water-starved localities.
Residents of various blocks of Gulshan-i-Iqbal complained that their localities, which had already gone without water on Friday under the weekly water-holiday system, remained deprived of water also on Saturday due to the prolonged power failure.
On Saturday and Sunday, water shortage persisted in different blocks of North Nazimabad’s blocks I, J, K and L. Residents of the affected areas complained that although they had been experiencing an acute shortage for the last one week, the concerned officials had not yet bothered to take measures for restoring the normal supply.
CLOSURE: The localities which would go without water on Monday under water-holiday system include all blocks of North Nazimabad, Federal B Area, Buffer Zone, Nazimabad and Shadman Town.