An inadequate answer: ‘K-4 may not be the solution to Karachi’s water problems’

KWSB chief engineer says high-rises will worsen water crisis

KARACHI: When politicians or Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) officials are questioned about resolving water scarcity in the city that is home to over 22 million residents, they usually only have one answer: the K-4 project, which they claim will fix all of Karachi’s water problems. On Monday, however, a KWSB official revealed for the first time that even this project was unlikely to solve the water crisis.

KWSB chief engineer Javaid Shamim was speaking at a seminar organised by NED University of Engineering and Technology in collaboration with the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) to commemorate World Water Day, which is observed globally on March 22.

“With the proliferation of high-rise buildings and mega housing projects in the metropolis, the water crisis will worsen to the point where even K-4 will not be able to deal with the city’s water needs,” explained Shamim. “Unfortunately, this construction is taking place without obtaining NOCs from KWSB.”

He revealed that Karachi was currently facing a shortage of almost 500 million gallons per day (MGD), while in the first phase after the completion of K-4 in 2020, the city would be provided 260MGD. “Once these housing projects and K-4 are completed, however, the water requirement will probably have doubled — it’s a simple calculation,” said Shamim. “Why Sepa has allowed the development of such projects is its internal matter but KWSB was never asked for its input.”

Sepa additional director-general SM Yahya, meanwhile, pointed out that rivers, dams and lakes were being encroached and waste was being dumped into water bodies on a massive scale. “The city is suffering from environmental degradation, which calls for changes in the approach towards water conservation.”

Sindh irrigation secretary Syed Zaheer Shah agreed that the conservation of water was the need of the hour, adding that universities were a vital source of information about this. “Young engineers must step forward to help us solve the issue of water scarcity,” he told the audience.

“We do not have enough manpower to impact policymaking,” responded Prof Sarosh Lodi of NED University.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2015.