Karachi water woes

The summer season is yet to fully set in but Karachi has started to feel the heat of water shortage. Currently this sprawling city of 22 million is facing a shortage of 700 million gallons daily of water, much less than its requirement of 1.2 million mgd. The city seldom gets more than half of its water needs through pipelines of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board. Water tankers fill the gap. People have to buy water tankers from the KWSB, and in most cases, from the tanker mafia at exorbitant rates.

The water shortage is likely to worsen with temperatures rising in the coming days. The KWSB managing director blames K-Electric for the current water woes, saying power being provided by the electricity supply company to the five major pumping stations of the city was erratic because of which the functioning of the pumping stations had been badly affected. He says if the pumping stations get uninterrupted power supply, an adequate amount of water can be supplied to consumers. He says in areas that are at present not receiving piped water, the KWSB was supplying water through tankers on payment of charges. There are, however, many localities in Karachi where households have not received piped water for years but they pay their water bills regularly for fear of disconnection. Residents in such areas purchase tankers or cans.

The city has been facing water shortage for the past many years, and the situation has been deteriorating with the passage of time. Last year Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital, received heavy rainfall. The Hub dam was filled to a considerable extent. People were expecting that there would be no water shortage in the current year. But such hopes seem to have been belied. As for the K-IV water supply scheme, there are several difficult-to-surmount obstacles in the way of its completion. Judicious use of water is the only option.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2020.

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