At long last, the Kerala Water Authority is heaving a sigh of relief with the water level in the Peppara dam, the water source for the capital city, rising, crossing the 100-metre mark and edging towards the full capacity level of 104.5 m. The level has crossed 101 m in comparison to an all-time seasonal low of 95.7 m in late June.
“We are definitely comfortable with the way things are shaping up. If the rain continues like this for another 10 days, we may even be looking at the dam overflowing and we will have to look at ways to save that water,” KWA managing director Ashok Kumar Singh told The Hindu .
The present levels, he said, guaranteed trouble-free supply of water for about 96 to 100 days, which meant the situation would be comfortable till about February. With the State Forest Department agreeing in principle to lower the shutters by 3 m, and thereby raise the capacity of the dam to 107.5 m, the KWA is preparing to push the proposal forward in the next couple of months.
At the same time, KWA is moving ahead with works to repair and maintain broken, rusted and leaking pipelines, so as to cut down on distribution losses, and to curb illegal usage of water by installing an automated meter reading (AMR) system. Tenders were likely to be issued for this in a week’s time, Mr. Singh said, adding that the idea was to examine the AMR system in a selected locality on a pilot basis before extending it across the city.
