KARACHI - Various parts of the metropolis are facing shortage of water due to the ongoing tussle between Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.

The KW&SB has constantly claimed that their major water pumping stations were facing long hours power outages from the KESC, causing disruption in water supply to major City areas, officials told TheNation. 
The KW&SB also claimed that due to power outages at the major pumping station of the city situated at Pipri, at least supply of 200 million gallons of water were disrupted, as a result different parts of the metropolis including Korangi, Defence Housing Society (DHA), Malir, Bin Qasim, PECHS society and several other areas. The KWSB said that four to five hours loadshedding in a day causing disruption in supply of water due to losing pressure of water AT different water pumping stations including Dhabeji, Damloti and Gharo.
On the other hand, the KESC has refuted allegations of the KW&SB about long hours’ loadshedding at water pumping stations. KESC said that the faulty internal cables inside Gharo, Dhabeji and Pipri pumping stations had been causing repeated tripping of the power supply feeders but the Water Board authorities had not taken any concrete action towards replacement of these cables.
According to the officials of the KESC, it has asked the Water Board authorities to first ensure smooth functioning of their internal cables and then write to the power utility to resume its supply. It took some time for the Water Board authorities to rectify their internal fault after which power supply could be restored.
The KESC said that the water pumping stations were completely exempted of loadshedding as a public service but the Water Board was adamant upon using the age-old faulty internal cables which had been causing great trouble to the power supply system. The frequent tripping of power supply feeders had been taking place due to internal faults of the pumping station cables but the Board had not yet maintain or replace their internal infrastructure.
The KESC said that the responsibility of the power utility was ended at the point where internal cable started at any residence, business place, industry or water pumping station. However, it was a paradox that the Water Board always shifted its own blame upon others instead of bringing its own house in order.
The power utility reiterated its earlier offer of sharing the cost of cable replacement and demanded the water board authorities to take an early decision in that respect so as to permanently rid the power utility as well as the citizens of this frequent issue. The water utility asked the KESC to depute able technical staff who can quickly fix the faults cropping up in their plants in order to ensure uninterrupted power to the water board as per the orders of the Sindh High Court.
Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Labour Ameer Nawab Khan in a meeting, alongwith the KESC and the KW&SB officials in his office on Thursday, said that the officers of the both utility organisations resolve the issue through negotiations and make sure of proper supply of water and power to the citizens of the metropolis.