Power fault leaves city short of water amid KWSC-KE spat

KARACHI:

The Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) and K-Electric on Sunday offered conflicting accounts over a power fault at the Dhabeji Pumping Station that disrupted water supply to parts of the metropolitan city, with KWSC blaming a power breakdown for a temporary shortfall of 75 million gallons per day (MGD) and the utility maintaining the fault was internal and unrelated to its network.

According to a KWSC spokesperson, the outage occurred at 8.45am in the third phase of the Dhabeji Pumping Station after a power breakdown interrupted electricity supply, forcing three pumping units to shut down.

The disruption is expected to affect water supply in parts of North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, Gulberg Town, New Karachi, Landhi, Korangi and Scheme 33, the spokesperson added.

The KWSC spox said it was in constant contact with K-Electric to expedite restoration of power, adding that the affected pumps would resume operations immediately after electricity supply is restored, allowing normal water supply to be restored.

Responding to the claims, a K-Electric spokesperson said the fault did not originate from its distribution network. The utility said the fault in KDA Pumping Feeder-2, which supplies electricity to the Dhabeji Pumping Station, was internal in nature and not related to K-Electric.

It added that electricity supply to 19 of the station's 22 pumping motors remained uninterrupted and that its technical teams were coordinating with the relevant authorities to assist KWSC in rectifying the fault and restoring the affected pumping units.