Pre-monsoon downpour affects city’s water supply system

The metropolis was deprived of 150 million gallons of water as a 72-inch pipeline at the Dhabeji Pumping Station “ruptured due to three power breakdowns over a span of 16 hours”, Geo News reported.

According to a spokesperson of the water board, the breakdowns in electricity supply to the pumping station caused flow issues that led to the pipeline bursting in two different places. Consequently, he said, a large quantity of water was released in the nearby locality leaving large swathes of land completely inundated.

The official said teams had been dispatched to fix the pipeline and the repair work was underway. 

The pipeline was ruptured after power breakdowns due to heavy rain suspended electric supply to the pumping station and a large portion of the city. 

As a consequence, water that was being carried up the 72-inch pipeline from the ground started flowing in the opposite direction. “The pressure of the backflow was too high and it caused the pipeline to burst at two points. The problem translated into a loss of roughly 150mgd from Karachi’s daily water supply.” 

This has been a recurrent issue in the metropolis as the water supply was most recently affected on June 20 when a 72-inch pipeline ruptured at the same pumping station, which is considered the most important supply source for Karachi.