KARACHI, Dec 14: Terming the existing water supply tariffs in the city “too low to cover the cost of operation and maintenance,” the Karachi Strategic Development Plan-2020 (KSDP-2020) underscores the need to increase these charges from 25 to 50 per cent.
Currently being debated by the City Council pending approval, the master plan admits that only 60 per cent of the bulk water supply to the city is filtered while the remaining 40 per cent is merely disinfected through chlorination. The document concedes that the inadequacy of the water treatment creates frequent problems of quality for end users.
Furthermore, says the KSDP-2020, the water distribution system is, on the average, about 40 years old and in an advanced state of disrepair. It is only pressurised for a few hours a day and the continuous pressurisation and depressurisation causes increased wear and tear on the pipes. The low pressure, combined with the poor condition of the pipes, allows wastewater and other contaminants to enter the water supply mains, which poses a risk to public health.
Underscoring the fact that collections represent merely 60 per cent of the billings, the KSDP-2020 points out that on the one hand, non-payment for services has become endemic in many katchi abadis and other informal areas. One the other hand, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) does not enjoy a sufficiently open or trusting relationship with its consumers to allow it to embark upon a consensus-based, demand-driven programme of improving services, raising tariffs and increasing collection rates.
Discussing the city’s water supply system, the master plan concedes that the water supply services face major challenges in terms of both quantity and quality. The existing surface water supplies, it states, are insufficient to meet current demands while drinking water is neither adequately filtered nor treated, resulting in shortfalls of quality.
The KSDP-2020 refers to both these dimensions of the challenge in terms of providing safe and sufficient water. It describes this as an issue of management concerning non-revenue water (NRW) which, according to the document, has soared to 35 per cent of production (JICA studies put the NRW at 45 per cent) while the tariffs are too low to cover costs. It adds that the KWSB can significantly improve the efficiency of the water supply system by strengthening its own operational and financial performance.
Referring to bulk water production and transmission, the KSDP-2020 points out that the Indus River and the Hub Dam constitute the main sources for the entire city’s water supply, and provide 546 and 100 million gallon of water per day respectively. Since this supply does not meet the current levels of demand, water is delivered on schedule to consumers for only a few hours a day.
The master plan describes the Dumlottee water source as “depleted” and emphasises the need for restoring or rehabilitating it, including check dams upstream of the Malir River.
In terms of the Hub Dam, the document says that the flow of water from it has depleted in recent years because of low levels of precipitation. While this source has the potential to generate significantly more water, its contribution towards the city’s water needs depends on weather patterns and rainfall.
The KSDP-2020 discusses the bulk water supply system in detail and says that water from the Indus source depends on gravity to flow through the transmission mains to the south-east of the Karachi city district. After that, it uses a combination of pressurisation and gravity to flow into mains along the National Highway at the eastern edge of the city’s built-up area and then into the centre of the city. However, it points out, some mains are too small for the volume of water they are expected to carry. Additionally, it says, many illegal and legal direct connections, particularly in peripheral neighbourhoods, have been converted into transmission mains over the years and their technical performance is thus undermined.
Referring to the water distribution network, the master plan states that the system is deteriorating since many of the pipes are corroded, others are now five to seven feet underground because of the repeated build-up of the city’s roads, while valve chambers and air relief valves are also buried underground.
The KSDP-2020 emphasises the need to increase water tariffs because they are currently too low to cover operational and maintenance costs. However, it also points out that while developers built projects that required improved infrastructures, they did not make systematic financial contributions towards the necessary investments.
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