Karachi Water & Sewerage Board's (KW&SB) water supply losses have gone up to 30 percent, or 174 million gallons per day (MGD) resulting in severe water crises in the mega city of the country. As per official documents, the city was facing a water shortfall of 56 percent or around 512 MGD as against the total demand of 918 MGD. The present net water supply availability stands at 406 MGD, which constitutes some 44 percent of the total demand of 17 million consumers of the metropolis.
Dhabeji is the main source of water supply to the KW&SB network with 450 MGD, followed by Hub with 100 MGD, and Gharo 30 MGD. The total water supply from these three water sources stands at 580 million gallon per day. However, around 30 percent or 174 MGD of the total can't reach to the end consumers due to line leakages, theft etc. The total water supply from six legal hydrants is 18 MGD that is 3.1 percent against total water supply to Karachi.
KW&SB is managing intermittent water supply through rationing system which is the major cause of less availability of water to many consumers. The average area wise water supply duration to residential areas is 4 to 5 hours in a day which is not sufficient to cater the demand of the thickly populated city. Due to the supply demand gap, even if the quantity (18 MGD) which is being drawn at hydrants is released in the system it cannot reach the tale end areas; hence the only means to supply water is through tankers. Basically, these tankers are being used as surface transmission mains for the tale end areas.
The water utility said its first priority is ensure water availably in the residential areas, due to which the industrial areas face water shortages, however the tanker service has been introduced to mitigate the water shortage in the industrial zones.