Pakistan: Acute water shortage bothering people of Karachi

While the reports of acute shortage of water kept on pouring from almost every locality of the city, insiders in the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board said that it was not possible to fix the problems of short supply mainly due to decades-old infrastructure, parts of its running for over 40 years, reports Dawn News.

The localities worst-hit by acute shortage of water include the densely populated Orangi Town, Baldia Town, Gadap, North Karachi, Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, Federal B Area, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Malir, Landhi, Korangi, Shah Faisal Colony, parts of Clifton under the municipal control of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Lyari etc where residents complain that they get less than 60 per cent of water allotted to them.

The water shortage also persisted in the salubrious parts of the city such as Defence Housing Authority and Clifton, which falls under the administrative and municipal control of the Cantonment Board Clifton, as people said they had no option but to buy water tankers to meet their requirement, the newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, the water tanker rate has also increased with the price now standing at  Rs5,000-Rs5,500.

A KWSB engineer, who did not wish to be named, told Dawn News that the water board’s dilapidated transmission and distribution system was not capable to cater for the needs of people as it had completed the designated economic life leading to losses of up to 42 per cent.

A resident of Clifton told Dawn News that despite regularly paying bills water flowed through the main pipelines in her locality once a week that too for only 10 minutes.