With water consumption going up by about 25%, the supply of piped water that covers over 80% of the population in the city and nearby areas is falling short by about 50 to 70 million litres of water a day (mld).
With the Aluva pumphouse of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) oversupplying upto 285 mld to 290 mld, the tail-end of the distribution network gets very little water.
Of the 17 wards in Cheranalloor grama panchayat, 15 wards are facing severe shortage. “We need at least ten loads of 12,000 litres every day to meet the basic needs,” a panchayat official told The Hindu .
Kochu Kadavanthra, K.P. Vallon Road, and Chilavannur are among the areas in the middle of the city where water fails to reach every day, said Jamal P., executive engineer at the Public Health Division of the KWA.
Even those who usually do not use the piped water connection turn to the supply when wells dry up in summer. This gets reflected in the increasing demand, said a KWA official.
In many places, KWA resorts to segmented supply of water to ensure equitable distribution in all areas, said another senior KWA official. But these measures were only temporary, said the official.
Many parts of West Kochi are not getting enough water because the Maradu plant, which was pumping upto 80 mld, is now running short by 10 mld because of an unrepaired pumpset.
The KWA official in-charge of the plant said that pumping needed to be stopped to repair the pumpset and that would lead to bigger problems.
Many panchayats in the Vypin block and Paravur are facing water shortage. The District Collector had on Saturday chaired a meeting to review the water supply in the district and had asked all local bodies to arrange water tankers immediately to source water from various pumphouses of the KWA. All the tankers need to be fitted with GPS devices. It was decided at the meeting that local bodies do not have to float a tender to arrange water in order to avoid unnecessary delay. Water in all KWA pumphouses is available free of cost.
People are also resorting to illegal means by fitting pumpsets on smaller public supply lines. Such pumps siphon off the available water and leaves the neighbourhood without water because of the air blocks it creates, said an official of the anti-theft squad of the KWA.
The force of the water is so low that people give little thought to the fact that it is illegal to boost the flow. As many as 128 cases were booked by anti-theft squads under the Karuvelipady sub-division alone for such water theft.
High-pressure water is required to remove air block, which is not possible in the present conditions, said a KWA official.
KWA cell
The Kerala Water Authority has formed a round-the-clock drought management cell at its P H Division, Pallimukku office here to ensure water supply to the drought-hit regions under the Kochi Corporation and Chellanam, Kumbalangi, Mulavukad, Cheranalloor, and Kadamakudy panchayats. The cell can be contacted at M: 9188127937; 0484-2360816.
