Several litres of drinking water are wasted at Veera Perumal Koil Street, off P.S. Sivaswamy Salai, as Metrowater pipeline carrying water to the residential localities in the area has developed a crack. Residents say they are facing this issue for close to a month and none of the departments has taken steps to plug the leakage.
“It is a peculiar problem,” says R. Thambiran, who lives on the street. “Streams of water flow down the street only after 8 p.m. and continue till early in the morning. Sometimes, even till 9 a.m.”
Residents say they had not seen water gushing out even during the recent floods. “Metrowater engineers do not understand the magnitude of the problem. They visit the street only after the water stops flowing,” says Sudha Rangaraj, who has made many complaints to the Corporation helpline.
Many residents fear the continuous leakage will affect the electricity wires lying underneath the soil. K. Shanmughan did not have power in his house for two days. He suspects it has been caused by the leakage in the pipeline, which has snapped the EB wires.
“I spent Rs.1,000 to rectify the fault in the line,” he says, pointing to the water leakage which has seeped across the area.
The street has nearly 500 families and gets regular drinking water supply. Residents want the damaged pipeline or valve to the replaced.
According to the Metrowater zone engineer of ward 121, based on complaints by residents, the leakage was attended to two weeks ago. “The pipeline seems to have developed a leak at another point and we will take steps to arrest the leakage,” he said.
Due to the Metrowater pipeline repair work at Sivaswamy Salai, many motorists take Veera Perumal Koil Street and this is already causing many problems on the stretch.
