Wait for piped water supply gets longer in some areas

Shortage of manpower caused by the lockdown delays trial run of service

Work in progress: Water pipeline laying work has been disrupted in a few localities like Palavakkam because of the lockdown.

People in some localities of south Chennai may have to wait for few more months to get piped water connection. The trial run of the projects is still in progress because of challenges during the lockdown.

The water supply projects were inaugurated in May end for Palavakkam, Kottivakkam, Perungudi and Mugalivakkam. Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board was planning to provide 15,350 house service connections in October or November.

However, lack of manpower delayed the trial run during lockdown, which came in the way of providing house service connections, according to sources in the board.

Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had inaugurated the ₹126.39-crore project to provide a comprehensive water supply network in these areas. Nearly 1.60 lakh residents of these areas would be supplied nearly 24 million litres of water daily (mld) through various sources — Nemmeli desalination plant and the waterbodies in Chembarambakkam and Veeranam in Cuddalore district.

However, the water board was executing the work to flush the pipelines and check for leaks only in a phased manner as part of the trial run. Perungudi, which has a population of 70,390 in four areas, would be supplied nearly 10.5 mld.

Work on most of these pipelines was started in 2014.

“We found that the pipelines were damaged in some streets when other infrastructure works like stormwater drains and roads were taken up in the past few years. We are involved in rectifying leaks in the damaged portions of the pipelines in localities such as Perungudi,” said an official.

With most workers unable to return to Chennai from their home town, the water board is managing with less than 25% of the workforce. Even those workers who possessed e-passes were unable to travel from other districts and there were restrictions even within the city, the official added.

Schedule disrupted

For instance, the pipeline network in 227 streets in Palavakkam is tested in a phased manner for want of adequate number of workers. There were plans to complete the trial run by September.

In Neelankarai, the water supply project was yet to start because of issues related to land identified in CLRI Nagar.

“We have approached Kancheepuram collectorate to resolve the issue to construct water distribution station. An alternative site is being identified with the help of Corporation authorities,” the official added.