The helpline of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) was on Wednesday deluged with calls seeking drinking water even as the agency commenced rationing the supply of water to the city.
The rationing system is so designed as to allow water to reach even the most elevated areas of the city, which traditionally go without water on a good day. The rationing is being done by throttling control valves on distribution pipelines that criss-cross the city.
On Wednesday, the KWA helpline logged more than 300 calls, mostly from Peroorkada, Sasthamangalam, Kowdiar, and Vazhuthacaud. Calls were also received from Pattom, Kesavadasapuram (a perennially dry zone), Jawahar Nagar, Thampanoor, Palayam, Nanthancode, and Manacaud.
5 valves throttled
According to an executive engineer of the KWA, four to five control valves were throttled on Wednesday as a first step. From Thursday, 10 to 12 valves would be operated. On Wednesday, the KWA operated 50 water tankers to different parts of the city in reply to pleas for help. The city Corporation too pitched in with tankers of drinking water. Private water tankers were supplied from the KWA’s facilities at Choozhattukotta, near Thrikkannapuram, and from Kalliyoor, near Venganoor. KWA engineers admitted that one or two days would be too early to decide whether the rationing system is a success or not. “It would take four to five days to see whether rationing is working and whether there is more equitable distribution of water,” a KWA engineer said.
However one problem that the KWA would encounter in its frantic attempts to prevent the city from going dry is the issue of interconnections done in the city’s pipeline network. In fact, the first job of any assistant executive engineer in any sub-division is to interconnect pipes so that the water available reaches more consumers. However, this also means that operating one control valve need not have the desired effect on the flow of water in the pipelines.
