Karachi is facing a severe water shortage as prolonged power outages have crippled key water supply infrastructure. A spokesperson for the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) confirmed that an outage that began at 10 pm on June 26 at the Dhabeji pumping station has persisted for over 60 hours. The fault has yet to be resolved, resulting in a shortfall of 220 million gallons of water to the city during this period.
The power failure has had a cascading effect on various KWSC installations, including the North East Karachi Old Pump House. The shutdown of this facility, located downstream of Dhabeji, will impact water supply to parts of Scheme 33. Additionally, two pumps at the K-III pump house are currently inactive due to the ongoing power disruption, further exacerbating the water crisis.
The city’s power utility, K-Electric, is responsible for the outages affecting the water supply infrastructure. The spokesperson revealed that a significant portion of Karachi is facing substantial water disruption as a direct consequence of the inactive pumps. The KWSC is working to mitigate the impacts of the shortage, but the prolonged power outage presents a significant challenge.