City faces 238MGD water shortfall

Electricity supply to the Dhabeji pumping station, a key source of water for the metropolis, was fully restored after 33 hours on Monday, but the prolonged outage has left Karachiites facing a shortfall of around 238 million gallons of water. The disruption, which began early Sunday, forced 10 of the pumping station's 21 pumps to shut down, severely affecting water supply to large parts of the city. According to a spokesperson for the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), K-Electric restored power to Dhabeji after a 33-hour outage. Following the restoration, all pumping units were made operational and water supply to affected areas resumed. However, sources said it could take another 24 to 36 hours for water supply across the city to return to normal. The prolonged power breakdown resulted in the city being deprived of 238 million gallons of water, sources said. The spokesperson said the major breakdown occurred around 6am on Sunday due to a cable fault in K-Electric's system. The affected areas included Korangi, Landhi, Malir, Shah Faisal Colony, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, PECHS, Liaquatabad, Sharifabad, the Old City area and Jamshed Road, among others. The utility maintained that water supply had now resumed through all 21 pumps and was being restored to affected areas. The spokesperson, however, said the impact of the shortfall could continue to be felt in different parts of the city over the coming days despite the restoration of electricity. Meanwhile, the K-Electric spokesperson said a fire in bushes near the Dhabeji Pumping Complex affected KWSC cables, adding the power utility extended full cooperation and deployed its teams on an emergency basis, who worked to rectify the fault at the earliest.