Falling to pieces?: Water shortage persists with erratic power supply

KWSB officials encourage people to refrain from wasting water


Our Correspondent July 09, 2015
KWSB officials encourage people to refrain from wasting water. PHOTO: AFP

KARACHI: As parts of the city braved yet another power outage on Wednesday night, the water shortage also persisted.

The worst-affected areas were North Nazimabad, Federal B Area, Nazimabad, North Karachi, Buffer Zone, Baldia Town, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Korangi, Landhi, Defence, Lines Area, Malir, Akhtar Colony, Old City Area, PECHS, Saddar, Site, Tariq Road and Surjani Town.

According to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), continuous electricity breakdowns in the last two days have affected their pumping stations, which have led to the suspension in water supply to the city. It will take up to four days to bring the working pace of the pumping stations back to normal, said KWSB technical deputy managing director Iftikhar Ahmed.

Due to the power outage, water supply from the main Dhabeji pumping station was suspended on Thursday, said KWSB spokesperson Nazir Mateen. The suspension only lasted two hours but the supply was disturbed at a large scale, he told The Express Tribune.

Karachi had to face a shortage of another 525 million gallons per day (MGD) but the administration is working to solve the issue as soon as possible, he said, urging the people of Karachi to refrain from wasting water.

There are several households who have water in the underground tanks but do not have electricity to run the motor that pulls water for the overhead tank. "We have water in our tank but there is no electricity to load it," complained Abdul Hafeez, a resident of North Nazimabad.

Even those observing Aitekaaf in the mosques may have abstained themselves from worldly engagements but are unable to escape from the water crisis. The administration of Noorus Salam Masjid in Nazimabad did set up generators for people observing Aitekaaf but they ran out of fuel.

"There are 200 people here and we were trying to provide electricity to run fans and bulbs to each person individually," said Muhammad Bilal, a worker at the mosque. Sometimes they have to ask next door neighbours to provide water for the people at the mosque to perform ablution, he added.

The administration at Tayyaba Masjid in North Nazimabad also had similar complaints. "The government must have some respect for the people who have separated themselves from the world to perform such an important obligation," said Abbas Akram, the incharge of the mosque committee looking after people observing Aitekaaf.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2015.

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