The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has set April 29 as the target date to commence pumping of water from the Neyyar Dam to the reservoir at Aruvikkara.
This was among the main decisions taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Nalini Netto. Different departments, including the KSEB, which is to make ready power at Kaappukad, the point from which water would be pumped to Aruvikkara, have been tasked with providing maximum support to the KWA venture.
Pumps to be purchased
The KWA will also purchase two pumps each with operational capacity of 50 million litres a day (mld). The Irrigation Department has been asked to make available at the earliest, two dredgers to help the KWA pump water. According to a senior KWA engineer, Neyyar dam has ample reserves of water even if 10 mld is drawn for a month. The meeting also decided that the district administration should supervise the operations of the 50 water kiosks being set up at various locations in the capital city. The KWA will ensure availability of water at these points. More kiosks will be set up, if necessary.
Meantime, the number of complaints logged at the KWA helpline showed a slight dip when compared to the 300 calls that were logged on April 18, the day after the rationing was made operational. KWA officials claimed that this was proof that water was indeed reaching many more places than it usually does.
“ Today we supplied water in 100 tankers across the city. We asked institutions to hire their own tankers to which we would give water. This way we were able to reach water speedily to the people. However, we never claimed that we could provide saturation coverage to the city. The aim was to throttle availability by 25 per cent and regulate valves so that poorly serviced areas get some water. On that front we feel we have succeeded to a certain extent,” a KWA executive engineer said.
