Even as the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council was discussing water shortage in the summer on Wednesday, precious water continue to be wasted every day in Amruth Nagar.
For nearly a month, residents here have been watching in distress huge quantities of the precious resource gushing from a burst pipeline, turning their roads into rivulets.
“There isn’t much water remaining in Cauvery as it is; now the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is not bothered about leakage,” said Vidisha Kumari, a resident, gesturing at the water flowing on the road.
Daily distress
A resident living on the slushy road on Third Cross, Sector A, Amruth Nagar said the BWSSB had been granting new connections to houses without first fixing valves. “For the past month, whenever the BWSSB supplies water, it flows on the road. Today, the water has leaked from 10.30 a.m. to 2 p.m.,” said Manjula Siddaramesh, member of Amruth Nagar Welfare Association.
“Schoolchildren and senior citizens are affected the most. It becomes difficult for us to even move our vehicles,” a neighbour said.
There is no regular water supply schedule too. “We have complained many times, but they are not taking any action,” Ms. Siddaramesh said.
Servicing of pipelines
BWSSB engineers said work on servicing the pipelines — which were laid under Greater Bangalore Water Supply and Sanitation Project (GBWASP) in 2005 — was under way. “As we started servicing the feeder main, we found a major joint leak near the BBMP office in Amrutahalli. We stopped the water and have repaired the leak,” said Assistant Engineer (Maintenance) Narayanswamy.
Once the servicing was completed, water supply through Cauvery IV Stage II Phase would start in the area. “Servicing the lines by flushing out water is essential to clear the muck has deposited in the lines, which have not been used after they were laid in 2005. Across the city, 3,500 km of pipelines were laid under GBWASP.”
From November, when the Cauvery IV Stage Phase II was commissioned, the BWSSB has been servicing the lines by flushing out lakhs of litres of water per day. “Unless we clean these pipelines, we cannot start supply Cauvery water,” he added.
