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Thursday March 28, 2024

Brief power failure to affect water supply for two days: KWSB

By Our Correspondent
May 27, 2020

Water supply from Karachi’s Dhabeji Pump completely suspended in the wee hours of Tuesday after a power breakdown, which occurred at 12:38am. K-Electric (KE), however, said power was immediately restored.

According to a press statement from the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), 215 million gallons of water could not be supplied to the city during Eid. Last Wednesday also the water supply suspended to the city from the Dhabeji Pump after a power failure which resulted in two cracks in the main water line, the statement added.

“It became very difficult for the water board to supply water to the city during Eid,” the statement said, adding that due to an intermittent power failure, the KWSB’s water supply system of the had been adversely affected.

At around 2:30pm on Tuesday, the water supply partially resumed to the city, however, only 60 million gallons of water was being supplied, the statement said.

For the next two days, the statement said, the city would face water shortage, as power failure of few minutes disrupted their water supply system. The water board said they had “very heavy 22 pumps” which they were supposed to resume one-by-one after the power failure which “halted the water supply for several hours”.

“It takes at least 30 to-45 minutes in resuming the proper water supply after the power is resumed,” the statement said. As for the water lines, the press statement explained that it took several lines to get them filled with the water.

Meanwhile, a KE statement said the power utility “prioritises power supply to all the KWSB strategic locations, including the pumping stations at Hub, Dhabeji, Pipri and Gharo”. According to the KE spokesperson, the power supply to the Dhabeji pumping station was swiftly restored and KE teams remained in close coordination with the water board authorities. “In the better interest of the people of Karachi, all KWSB water pumping stations are exempt from load-shed,” the spokesperson said.

“In addition to ensuring seamless power supply to all strategic installations of the KWSB, the KE also extends all possible technical support and maintains close coordination with KWSB teams round the clock. The K-Electric has also invested significantly to provide primary as well as backup feeder facility available for Dhabeji pumping station.”