After shutting down the Pilloor water supply for the last three days, the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board has installed valves and water flow meters to regulate water supply in both the Pilloor I and Pilloor II (Coimbatore Corporation’s dedicated drinking water supply scheme).
According to sources, the Board wanted to fix valves to ensure that one of the two Pilloor supply pipes does not get more water than the other.
At present the problem was that at the Periyacombai tunnel exit, where the pipeline branches into two, one of the two pipelines is slightly at a lower level than the other. The difference in level made the water flow more into the pipeline that is at the lower level.
Kattan Hill tunnel
To regulate the flow in a manner that water flows in equal volume in both the pipelines, the Board had fixed the valves, the sources said and added that for a similar solution, the Board had also fixed the other valve at the exit of the Kattan Hill tunnel.
The Pilloor I and Pilloor II schemes’ pipelines rejoin, enter the Kattan Hill tunnel as one and branch into two at the exit.
Here again, the Board had installed a valve to regulate the supply.
The water that flows through the pipeline here is treated at the treatment plant at Velliangadu, which is located between the Periyacombai tunnel exit and Kattan Hill tunnel entry.
Flow meters
The sources said that the Board had also fixed flow meters to measure the volume of water.
The valves and the flow meters had cost around Rs. 60 lakh.
With the installation of the valves, if the Board or the Corporation were to take up repair and maintenance work, the other would not suffer.
Likewise, the Corporation was also in the process of connecting the Saravanampatti water supply network with the Pilloor II main supply line to increase the supply by three million litres a day to meet the additional demand.
