Parts of Karachi may face water shortage after power breakdown at Dhabeji pumping station

KARACHI: The Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) on Sunday cautioned that parts of the metropolis might face disruption in water supply after a power breakdown at the Dhabeji pumping station.

The Dhabeji Pumping Station, the city’s primary water intake point, is highly dependent on uninterrupted electricity. Even brief outages result in immediate service disruptions.

According to a KWSC spokesperson, the breakdown occurred at 8:45am in the third phase of the Dhabeji pumping station, due to which the power supply to the phase remained suspended.

“K-Electric has declared a cable fault at the station. A technical team has reached the site to rectify the fault,” the spokesperson told Dawn.

He added that three pumps at the Dhabeji pumping station had been temporarily shut down due to the fault, which was likely to affect water transmission to various parts of the metropolis.

“The Corporation estimates a temporary shortfall of 75 million gallons per day in the city’s water supply due to the cable fault,” he mentioned.

Areas likely to be affected include parts of North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, Gulberg Town, New Karachi, Landhi, Korangi and Scheme 33, the spokesperson elaborated.

He stated that KWSC was in constant contact with KE for immediate rectification of the fault and full restoration of electricity.

“All pumps will be made operational immediately after complete restoration of power to bring the water supply back to normal,” the spokesperson added.

On Thursday, the Sindh cabinet approved a 40 per cent increase in the cost of a dedicated water line, to be laid by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), to supply water to Defence Housing Authority (DHA) from Dumlotee, on the outskirts of Karachi.

Earlier this month, an electricity outage at the K-2 Pumping Station had caused three major pumps at the K-2 Pumping Station to shut down.