The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) on Monday managed to correct a glitch that developed in one of the pumps at its Aruvikkara facility, which had led to supply disruption in several parts of the city on Sunday.
While supply has been restored for the time being, the KWA will be able to breathe easy only on January 4 after the successful completion of the second phase of renovation works on the 74 MLD and 86 MLD water treatment plants (WTP) at Aruvikkara.
This is because the government-run water utility had removed two standby pumps at Aruvikkara — one each in the raw water and clear water facilities in the 86 MLD WTP — as part of the Phase-I renovation, which was carried out over Friday and Saturday.
The rotating assembly in the lone operational pump in the clear water facility developed problems on Sunday and had to be replaced. In Phase-II, the KWA plans to replace the pumps in the raw water and clear water facilities with a higher-capacity pump.
Until then, it will be a tight-rope walk, as there is no standby pump.
The KWA had announced that the renovation of the WTPs would be carried out in four separate phases after which water supply to the city region would be enhanced by another 10 million litres a day (mld). At present, the city consumes 270-280 mld.
KWA staff had carried out the phase-1 successfully, but the minor glitch was caused by the pump developing a snag, Suresh Chandran, superintending engineer, PH Circle, Thiruvananthapuram, said. “We will be safe once the new pumps are installed in Phase-II,” he said. Sunday’s supply disruption had affected a number of places in KWA’s Thiruvananthapuram north PH division.
In the second phase planned on January 4, the 86 MLD plant will be turned off for 16 hours. In Phase III, the 86 MLD plant will be switched off for six hours. In final phase on February, both plants will be shut down for 16 hours.
