Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that steps are afoot to ensure piped drinking water to 70 per cent of the State’s population within two years. The entire State would be covered in this aspect by 2021.
Speaking after the inauguration of the newly laid mild steel transmission mainline of the Kerala Water Authority to bring water from Aruvikkara to Peroorkada and to the city, Mr. Chandy said the new pipeline, which would replace the 1,200 mm pre-stressed concrete pipeline which had gained notoriety after regular bursts, had taken only one year to be laid, while the previous PSC pipeline took seven years.
Mr. Chandy, who felicitated the officials who made the fast progress possible, also said studies had been carried out to check the possibility of drawing water from the Neyyar Dam to the city through a separate water treatment plant.
If this project was found to be feasible, the city would have water supply without disruption.
Water Resources Minister P.J. Joseph, presiding over the function, said 50 per cent of the State’s population would get piped drinking water once 308 ongoing projects were completed within two years.
The new pipeline bringing 86 MLD of water to the city meant that each person would get 250 litres a day, which was at least double the national water per capita average.
Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development Shashi Tharoor, Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar, K. Muraleedharan, MLA, and KWA managing director Ashok Kumar Singh also spoke.
3,000 familiesA day before the formal launch of the pipeline, over 3,000 families in Muttada, Paruthipara, Kelind Lane, Santosh Nagar, LIC Lakshmi Nagar and other areas in the Kesavadasapuram ward and surrounding areas had begun enjoying the benefits of the pipeline.
People in these areas, for long had been left to fend for themselves, shelling out huge amounts from their meagre household budgets to pay for water supplied by private tankers; walking long distances for one bucket of water and even taking to the streets to fight authorities to provide them with daily drinking water.
With the new pipeline coming, the Muttada region was given an interconnection from the mainline, which saw taps in the area finally sputtering to life after over seven years.
Leaks detectedThe sudden arrival of water revealed several leaks at several points in the local distribution network, which are now being attended to, but the people, said Kesavadasapuram Councillor George Lewis, are happy.
