Many parts of city without water after pipeline burst

Karachi

Water supply to several parts of Karachi was suspended after a 72-inch pipeline from Thatta burst on Sunday morning.

A Karachi Water and Sewerage Board spokesperson said a power breakdown at the Dhabeji pumping station created back pressure causing the pipeline to rupture.

He added that it would take 25 hours for fixing the pipeline and restoring water supply to the city.

The spokesperson further said eight other pipelines had been repaired. He requested citizens to conserve water in view of the situation.

Local government minister Jam Khan Shoro said power outages at the Dhabeji pumping station was disrupting water supply to Karachi but despite repeated requests, the K-Electric was not addressing the problem.

The KWSB said power supply to the Dhabeji pumping station was restored after four hours.

KWSB MD Misbahuddin Farid said he had complained against the indifferent attitude of the K-Electric as despite repeated reminders throughout Ramazan, the power company still suspended supply to pumping stations causing major faults there.

He said on June 28, the K-Electric had requested for a six-hour power outage so that they could rectify a problem but it had again suspended supply on Sunday.

The MD said he would write a letter to the Sindh chief minister about the issue.

The residents of Karachi are already water-starved and receive less than 50 perc ent of the required 1,100 million gallons of water each day. Because of the ruptured pipeline Karachi has lost out on 200 million gallons which is about 40 percent of the 500 million gallons the city is supplied each day.