: Supply of drinking water to the Muttada-Medical College areas, which was disrupted from 5 a.m. on Thursday following a burst on a 400-mm primo pipe at Vayalikada, is being restored. The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) officials said work on plugging the leak would be completed by Friday midnight and normal supply would be restored by Saturday noon.
The burst on the pipeline had caused disruption of supply to Muttada, Kesavadapuram, Ulloor and Medical College areas on Friday. The curbs put by the Public Works Department (PWD) on road cutting till August 15 had led to long hours of delay in taking up restoration work.
The work finally commenced on Thursday midnight after the PWD relaxed the norms to pave way for KWA to carry out road digging works in the event of pipe-bursts.
Hectic parleys
“After hectic parleys between top officials in the departments, we finally got the sanction to start the work by 11 p.m. on Thursday,” said a KWA official
However, the intermittent rain on Friday hindered work on repairing the pipeline. The work had to be stopped at regular intervals to flush out rain water from the pit formed during excavation of the leaked pipe, the official added.
Time lost
“If it does not rain, the leak will be plugged by night and we will be able to charge the line by Saturday morning. Considerable time was lost due to initial reluctance on the part of the PWD to give permission for road-digging,” the official added.
The KWA had to deposit Rs 4.5 lakh with the PWD for re-laying the dug-up portion of the road.
Replacement work
The utility had started the process to replace the 400-mm primo pipe, which has a history of bursts, ferrying water from Peroorkada tank to Kesavadasapuram, Medical College and Ulloor areas. “We are in the initial stage of awarding the work. The line has outlived its lifespan and has burst several times, causing long hours of disruption,” the official said.
Work had to be stopped at intervals to flush out water from the pit following intermittent rain.
