KARACHI: Repair work on a pipeline which burst Saturday on Karachi’s University Road began 12 hours after the incident.
Water continued to spill for hours as no one from the water board responded until 9 am on Sunday. However, the arrival of engineers is still awaited.
The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) says it can take up to 24 hours to repair the leaking pipeline and water supply has been stopped to prevent further spilling.
Workers claim that they are trying to locate the exact point of leakage, after which the repair work will commence. As a result, residents of the area are suffering due to lack of running water.
The sweet-water pipeline, measuring 33 inches in diameter, was installed in front of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology in 1987. Both tracks of University Road were recently revamped. Various underground utilities and equipment were changed during the renovation except for the 33-inch pipeline, a KWSB official said.
He reported that the rubber rings attached to the joints of pipelines start leaking when water pressure mounts.
“These rubber rings are so old now that they cannot resist the water pressure, resulting in the line leaking every now and then,” he said.
Water is already a rare commodity in Karachi and according to KWSB, the city needs 1,100 million gallons per day (MGD). It receives barely 480 MGD. The rich buy water from hydrants while the poor are left to fend for themselves.