Water returns 12 hours after 2-hour power cut

Water supply to Malir and East zone was suspended from Friday to Saturday afternoon.

KARACHI: Water supply to Malir district and east zone of the city was suspended from Friday to Saturday afternoon because load shedding on Friday caused the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s (KWSB) key Pipri Pumping Station to shut down. The power outage lasted two hours but it took 12 hours to get the supply up and running.

Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) spokesman Amir Abbasi said, however, that there was no load shedding at any of the KWSB pumping sites. According to him, the lack of pumping water was due to internal conflicts among KWSB officials. The water board has a habit of blaming KESC to cover its own weaknesses, he added. An acute shortage of water has plagued Malir, Landhi, Korangi, Shah Faisal Colony, COD, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, DHA and Bin Qasim town, for over a month now.

According to KWSB executive engineer Rashid Siddiqui, the recent long hours of power outages have caused a shortage of around 2 million gallons of water to Malir district and the east parts of the city. He said that while the government has said that all KWSB pumping sites were exempted from power outages, for all practical purposes this was not followed by KESC.

The gigantic pipes that pump water from KWSB stations to all parts of the city require a certain amount of water to be readily available. Whenever a power outage occurs, the water recedes and the KWSB has to wait for around 10 to 12 hours till a sufficient quantity has accumulated. This is called channelisation of canals.

Only after the process is complete can the water pumping resume. There are 16 pumps installed at the Pipri pumping station, of which 14 are used to pump water on a daily basis, however the power outage on Friday caused all these 16 pumps to stop working.

Abbasi, for his part, said that KWSB owes KESC an outstanding amount of Rs11.5 billion. KWSB has always been a priority for KESC despite the fact that the former did not settle the outstanding dues.

He said that there were complaints of electric cable theft in Gharo and Pipri areas but the utility still treats them as top priority. He admitted that he could not rule out power outages caused by technical problems but added that the KESC always resolves these faults as soon as possible.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2010.