The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board-KWSB recently claimed that they are now in the position to provide 8.5million gallon daily (MGD) water to the residents of Cantonment Board Clifton-CBC and Defence Housing Authority-DHA. This statement was given by KWSB former managing director Asadullah Khan in mid of March. He was demoted as KWSB deputy managing director by the end of March. Asadullah Khan was replaced by senior civil engineer Farida Salam.
Before going into the story further, first we need to understand the water supply system in CBC and DHA. In 1999, an agreement was made between KWSB and CBC administrations that the water agency would supply 9mgd water quota to CBC residents. However, this agreement is not fulfilled till to-date. One of the senior KWSB officers on condition not to be named told SAMAA Digital that the water agency is not capable for supplying CBC allocated quota of 8.5mgd or 9mgd.
Previously, the CBC residents are getting 4mgd water supply from KWSB and now it is increased by one MGD, which makes the total water supply to 5mgd not 8.5mgd. “This one MGD is increased at Ghazi/Chakra Goth pumping station, which is a main pumping station of CBC,” KWSB officer added. Apart from Chakra Goth pumping station, the CBC and DHA have several other pumping stations at Kala Pul, Khayaban-e-Ittehad and Zamzama. A network of water supply lines of 18’’, -24’’ and 48’’ inch diameters are there for providing water to the residents.
The KWSB officer says the water supply to Akhtar Colony, Landhi, Korangi, Kashmir Colony and Qayyumabad areas is being affected with the increase of water quota to DHA. The supply route to DHA is water coming from Pipri to Bin Qasim and then reach to Landhi and Korangi areas. After that the water enters into the DHA.
The KWSB officer said there is limited water in the system. The demand and supply gap is being increased with every passing day. The available water in the system is nearly 650mgd. The demand reaches up to 1250mgd. The Karachi is facing 600mgd water shortage.
In this current situation, it is difficult to meet the water demand of every individual. Clifton Block 8 and 9, Neelum Colony, Delhi Colony, Punjab Colony, Bukshan Village, Jhamoriya Colony, Hazara Colony and DHA Phase I-VIII. The water situation from CBC administration is the same. Two senior CBC officers confirmed that the water supply situation is almost the same with a slight increase in water supply quota.
Officers say the CBC was receiving 4mgd water supply from KWSB and the figure is reached at 4.6mgd with a slight increase. “No significant change is reported in water supply quota to CBC residents,” they added.The CBC officers said: they have water supply network in entire DHA except Phase-VIII and VII (Extension), but the residents are facing acute shortage of water supply due to non-availability of allocated quota.
