Karachi faces daily water shortage of 700m gallons

The city requires 1.2b gallons of water daily, but receives only 500m gallons

KARACHI: Karachi is currently facing a shortage of 700 million gallons of water on a daily basis, while the federal or provincial government have no concrete plan of action to tackle the situation.

The sprawling metropolis requires a water supply of 1.2 billion gallons of water every day at the moment. However, with water theft, leakages and just plain scarcity, the conurbation only ends up with 500 million gallons a day. And with summer - and the month of Ramzan - just around the corner, matters are likely to get worse as the water usage of the city's residents spikes.

According to a source at the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), with the government's pace of work on on-going water supply projects, there is little chance that they will be able to complete them in less than two years' time.

Water sharing between Afghanistan and Pakistan

However, talking to The Express Tribune, KWSB managing director Asadullah Khan said that they were aware of the daunting water shortage in the city. "If K-Electric provides power to the five major pumping stations of the city - Dhabeji, Gharo, NEK, Pipri and Hub - and other pumping stations, we can manage the challenge of water scarcity by adopting the strategy of supplying water on alternate days," he said, claiming that the power supply company only provided an interrupted supply of electricity to the pumping stations at the moment.

Meanwhile, he claimed, the KWSB supplied water to areas that are completely deprived of it through tankers filled from the government's hydrants, adding that the consumers had to pay for these tankers, however.

He urged citizens not to waste water. "The water you will save will be used by other citizens," he said. "There is a shortage of water in the city, but we will try our best to manage the situation with the available resources."

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2020.