Water is the source of all their woes. It’s either a case of plenty or nary a drop of it.
At Vedanvilakam and surrounding areas in Kulathoor, situated just outside the compound walls of the Technopark phase 3 campus, the residents of close to hundred houses have been for the past few years facing the twin challenges of drinking water scarcity and flooding.
The people here have been depending on water from their wells for many decades.
But in recent years, the well water has become unfit for drinking. “We had taken the water from our wells to the labs for testing. As per the results, all the wells are now having hard water, which is not fit for domestic use. As the Kerala Water Authority pipelines are yet to reach us, we depend on the water cans from private agencies,” says Manikuttan, a resident here.
Separating the locality from the Technopark campus walls is the Thettiyar canal, which drains into the Akkulam Lake. The canal, which once carried crystal-clear water, is now filled with waste. The flow of the canal has been affected at several areas due to encroachments and accumulation of waste. According to the residents, the current state of the canal is one of the major reasons for their drinking water woes and flooding.
“A part of the canal flows inside the Technopark campus. The bridges constructed there and the construction of a part of the outer wall, by encroaching upon the canal, has restricted its flow. This is the cause of the flooding. Due to the constricted flow, waste is accumulated in large quantities, which seeps into the groundwater. All of us had given up our lands for developmental projects at throwaway prices, but all that we have got in return are these problems,” says Vini, another resident. Drinking water pipes were laid here several years ago as part of the Japan International Co-Operation Agency (JICA) project. But these were never used to provide connections to the houses here.
Tender yet to be called
“I had submitted requests to the KWA, after which a revised estimate of Rs.11.63 lakh has been prepared for a new pipeline. But the tender is yet to be called for and funds have not been allocated,” says Poundkadavu ward councillor Medayil Vikaraman. As for the flooding, the residents have suggested a solution — to erect sufficiently high sidewalls for the canal so that their houses will also be protected from flooding, just like the Technopark campus on the other side.
