Dhabeji power breakdown leaves Karachi with 100m-gallon water shortfall: KWSC

KWSC spokesperson says K-Electric has begun work to reconnect affected cable, restore power to Dhabeji pumps

KARACHI:

A nine-hour power outage at Karachi’s Dhabeji pumping station has resulted in a 100-million-gallon shortfall in the city’s water supply, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) spokesperson said on Sunday.

According to the spokesperson, the outage had partially disrupted water supplies to the city after a cable fault in K-Electric’s system caused a major breakdown at the pumping station at around 6:00am.

The outage had started at around 6:00am after a cable fault occurred in K-Electric’s system at Dhabeji, causing a major breakdown, the spokesperson said.

He further added that the prolonged outage had reduced the availability of water from the pumping station, resulting in a shortfall of 100 million gallons so far.

K-Electric had started work to reconnect the affected cable, according to the KWSC. The spokesperson said the affected pumps at Dhabeji would be brought back into operation immediately after electricity was restored.

Read: Power fault at Dhabeji station threatens water supply to parts of Karachi

Water supplies from Dhabeji to Karachi would then return to normal, the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson said the power outage had partially disrupted water supplies to the city, while efforts to restore electricity at the pumping station were under way.

The KWSC spokesperson said the restoration of power was necessary for the affected pumps to resume operations and for water supplies from Dhabeji to return to their normal levels.

Karachi water woes

Power failures at Karachi’s Dhabeji Pumping Station have repeatedly disrupted the city’s water supply in recent months, with the latest incident in late June threatening to cut supplies by 75 million gallons a day.

On June 26, three pumps at the station were forced to shut down after a power breakdown in its third phase. K-Electric attributed the disruption to a cable fault and sent a technical team to the site, while KWSC said the affected pumps would be brought back into operation once power was restored.

The June outage followed several similar disruptions at Dhabeji since April, each affecting pumping capacity and, in some cases, causing damage to the transmission network.

In May, an emergency power shutdown at Dhabeji forced 10 of the station’s 21 pumping units offline while K-Electric carried out repairs to a fault in Power Transformer No 1 at the Dhabeji Grid Station. KWSC said the utility had initially indicated that the shutdown would last about an hour, but no confirmed timeline for full restoration had been provided at the time.

Another power breakdown at the end of May triggered a more extensive disruption. Water Corporation officials said the sudden electricity failure forced four pumps at the K-III Pump House and Phase-II system to shut down. The abrupt halt in pumping caused pressure fluctuations that ruptured a 72-inch main transmission line, resulting in the loss of millions of gallons of water.

Read more: City plunges into massive water crisis

The rupture disrupted supplies to several parts of the city, including Korangi, Landhi, Shah Faisal Colony, Malir, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, PIB Colony, the Old City Area and parts of District Central. Officials warned that some areas could face acute shortages for 24 to 48 hours while repairs were carried out and the system was gradually stabilised.

The disruption came after an even longer episode in April, when a major power breakdown at Dhabeji contributed to the bursting of three main water transmission lines. Although repairs to Line No 5 were completed, work on Lines No 1 and 2 continued for several days.

At the time, seven pumping stations at Dhabeji were reported to be non-operational, creating a substantial shortfall in Karachi’s water supply. Korangi, Landhi, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Liaquatabad, PIB Colony, Nazimabad, Malir, Shah Faisal Colony and Chanesar Goth were among the areas affected.

The incidents have repeatedly demonstrated how an electricity failure at Dhabeji can quickly become a city-wide water problem. As a result, problems at the pumping station have repeatedly translated into shortages across large parts of Karachi, with restoration of electricity only the first step towards returning water supplies to normal.