What happened
Residents of Karachi faced fresh uncertainty over their water supply on 31 May 2026 after an emergency power shutdown at the Dhabeji Pumping Station, a main source of the city’s water, forced the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) to cut transmission to several areas.
The KWSC said in a statement on Saturday evening that K-Electric had reported a major fault in Transformer No. 1 at the Dhabeji Grid Station, requiring an emergency shutdown at 6:30pm. The outage forced 10 of the 21 pumping units at Dhabeji to shut down, “significantly affecting the city’s water transmission system and disrupting water supply to various parts of Karachi”.
The utility said K-Electric had initially indicated the shutdown would last about an hour but had not provided a definitive timeline for the full restoration of power. It said it was monitoring the situation and remained in constant contact with K-Electric officials, and urged residents to use water judiciously.
Why it matters
The disruption extends the second month of an acute water crisis in Karachi, where taps have run dry, queues for water bowsers have lengthened and the cost of private tanker supplies has risen. The crisis began in late March and has been driven by major pipeline leaks, bursts in transmission lines, power outages at pumping stations and other technical faults.
Karachiites spent the recent three days of Eid struggling to secure water for their households, and many residents say shortages routinely worsen during religious festivals and public holidays when demand rises. There was no immediate response from K-Electric to the KWSC’s account, and no timeline for the resumption of normal supply.
“We have been facing a severe water shortage since late February,” Liaquatabad resident Shafiq Ahmed told Dawn. “There are days when not a single drop comes through the taps, forcing us to buy expensive water tankers that many families can hardly afford.”
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Figures and quotations are as carried by the cited outlet. Sources reviewed on 2026-05-31.
- Dawn — "Karachi water crisis deepens as power outage hits Dhabeji Pumping Station"31 May 2026 · Reports the KWSC statement, the K-Electric transformer fault and the resident accounts.
