Water pipeline bursts in Pasposh Nagar

Pipeline was ruptured after an excavator, being employed to lift garbage from a dumping site, damaged it

KARACHI:

Thousands of gallons of water was wasted when an 18-inch diameter pipeline burst near Paposh Nagar graveyard on Friday night.

The pipeline was ruptured after a Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) excavator, which was being employed to lift garbage from a dumping site next to the graveyard, caused damaged to it.

Consequently, water gushed out and inundated the nearby roads within minutes.

Area residents said they tried to contact the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) multiple times, but their calls remained unanswered until Saturday morning, when this report as filed.

An official of the KWSB, who had reached the site around three hours after the pipeline burst, maintained that water supply to the pipeline was suspended immediately after it was ruptured.

Yet, thousands of gallons of water has been wasted, he acknowledged.

The official assured that the repair of the pipeline would start by 6am on Saturday, and said it would possibly take 24 hours to repair the pipeline.

He added that the pipeline was laid five feet under the ground and it getting damaged by an excavator was "unexpected".

Dumping site

According to area residents, an illegal garbage dumping site has been created next to one of the walls of Paposh Nagar graveyard and waste is not lifted from the site for months, which results in a putrid smell spreading throughout the area.

One of the residents told The Express Tribune that they had earlier protested the relevant authorities' negligence, following which an SSWMB excavator was sent to lift garbage from the site.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2021.