The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has decided to take urgent steps to address the drinking water scarcity in several wards in the city Corporation area over the past few days. The situation has been acute at Kowdiar, Sasthamangalam, Vazhuthacaud, Thycaud, Nanthencode, and Palayam. The students of the Cotton Hill Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School even organised a protest on Friday, after the water taps at the institution ran dry.
On Saturday, Mayor V.K. Prasanth chaired a meeting with KWA officials to discuss the steps to be taken immediately. KWA Chief Engineer G. Sreekumar pointed out two major reasons for the water supply disruptions — the power outages in the water treatment plant at Aruvikkara and the leakages in the pipeline at different locations.
Plant under AMRUT
The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is currently carrying out the work to prevent the power outages. The work on a 75-MLD plant at Aruvikkara under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) project is also progressing. Once this is completed, the drinking water scarcity in the city will be solved to an extent.
Four teams will be deployed for leakage detection. According to Corporation officials, some of the leakages which were detected in old pipelines in the city were plugged on Saturday. This includes the leakage near Nandavanam in the pipeline from Observatory hills to Thampanoor. Another leak was detected at Charachira.
The councillors have also received complaints from residents’ associations in some areas of contractors diverting water from the pipelines. In view of this, it has been decided that no changes in the valves cannot be made without the presence of an executive engineer.
The KWA has now taken up the work of replacing the old pipelines in the city. The old pipe from Peroorkada to Manvila will be replaced with new mild steel pipes. The funding for this project has been approved from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). The line improvement works on the pipeline to the Cotton Hill school will also be completed before September 18.
There has been a shortage of water tankers with the KWA to supply water to various areas experiencing scarcity, as some of these have been sent to supply drinking water in the flood-hit districts.
It has been decided to talk to the district administration regarding the hiring of private tankers in case of urgency.
