Local Government Minister, SaeedGhani, has issued a warning stating that Karachi might experience a severe water crisis if the Sindh government proceeds with the closure of six legally operating water hydrants in the city. Ghani’s remarks came in response to call-attention notices during the Sindh Assembly session. One of these notices, raised by Opposition legislator RehanAkram, highlighted the issue of water scarcity in constituency PS-122 in Karachi. Ghani informed the lawmakers that currently, six legally authorized water supply hydrants have been functioning in the city as per the directives of the apex judiciary.
He emphasized the crucial role these hydrants play in ensuring adequate water supply to Karachi’s residents. The closure of these hydrants could significantly exacerbate the existing water shortage in the city. The statement from SaeedGhani underscores the importance of maintaining these legal water hydrants to mitigate the looming water crisis in Karachi. He said that there was a 50 per cent gap in water supply and demand in the city as shutting down these hydrants would mean that several areas in Karachi would go dry.
He informed the house that the Sindh government had been spending money out of its annual development programme to restore water supply from the Hub Dam canal. He said the development work to restore would Hub Dam Canal would be completed in the next 12 months to ensure 150 million gallons of water supply daily to the city. The Local Government Minister said that he had earlier conceded several times in the house that the city had been facing a water shortage as this shortfall increased in the summers due to higher consumption of water. He said that power load-shedding by K-Electric also affected the water supply in many areas.
He mentioned that the areas mentioned in the call-attention notice moved by the Opposition legislator were at the tail-end of the water supply system in the city. He said that these localities received water from the bulk water supply source of Hub Dam. Ghani informed the concerned legislators that Karachi had been receiving 70 MGD of water from the Hub Dam source against its quota of 100 MGD. The Local Government Minister said the public-private partnership mode of development had been adopted to carry out development work to restore the Hub Dam canal. He said the water supply to the affected areas in the city would improve after the completion of this project.
He informed the legislators that some 220 illegal hydrants had been demolished in Karachi in the last six to eight months. He disclosed that metered water connections were given to the six legal water hydrants in the city. He said the hydrants supplied water mainly to such areas where there was no pipelined network of water supply of Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation. Ghani informed the concerned legislators that residents in several underprivileged localities received water tanker service free of charge or at government-approved controlled rates.
