Lockdown dries up water utility's resources: Karachi may face acute water shortage during Ramazan

The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) is suffering from its worst-ever financial crisis due to the lockdown, official sources said on Monday.

They said the board's recovery stands less than 10 percent due to COVID-19-related social restrictions, making it impossible for the resource-starved water utility to continue even routine operations.

This grim situation, they feared, could cause an acute shortage of water in the city in the holy month of Ramazan.

The water supply system is on the verge of collapse, the daily repair work of water pumping stations is at a standstill, supply of chlorine, petrol and diesel is suspended while disbursement of salaries to thousands of employees is also almost impossible due to this historic financial crunch.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director of KWSB, Asadullah Khan, has sought immediate help from the Sindh government over the dire situation, fearing a riot could be triggered due to suspension of water supply during Ramazan to the city of more than 25 million people.

The KWSB is a self-financed government organization that runs its affairs such as repair and maintenance of machines, disbursement of staff salaries and pensions etc from the recoveries of water bills.

Sources said that on the eve of Ramazan, the KWSB has to perform additional operational work to improve the efficiency of water supply and sewerage system, but due to the current financial crisis due to non-recovery of its water receivables from consumers, the execution of even daily affairs has also been halted.

Sources revealed that owing to non-payment of dues, the supply of chlorine to the water board has been stopped, while the supply of diesel to the sewer cleaning machines for cleaning sewerage lines is also suspended.

Sources added that contractors working on the maintenance of water supply lines have refused to continue operations further due to non-payment of their dues.

On the other hand, the water board has to pay employees two months' salary. Hundreds of employees are also being paid pensions for which the water board does not have funds.