The overflowing UGD manholes noticed in the recent rain devastation has been attributed to the entry of rainwater collected on the rooftop of households across Mysuru city directly into the UGD lines, causing run-off of sewage on the roads and deluging many localities.
The issue has been taken seriously as the Mysuru City Corporation has come across damage to UGD network as the UGD pipelines are designed to carry a maximum load of 200-220 MLD but they handled the load of 8,000 to 10,000 MLD with large amounts of rainwater entering into the UGD system instead of open drainage, from the households.
MCC Commissioner Lakshmikanth Reddy told The Hindu that the MCC staff have begun cutting the connections wherever such acts have been noticed and where the manholes overspill in the recent rain damage. “In case of normal rains, there are no issues but when the rain situation escalates we come across such a problem. It was seen in the past but it aggravated this time as the city recorded very heavy rains,” he said.
Arguing that the release of rainwater collected on the rooftop directly to the UGD network was illegal, he said the residents must take immediate steps for delinking the connections and warned of imposing fines on them, if they failed to do so. “How could the UGD network take the load that sometimes exceeds up to 10,000 MLD in a short span of time?” the Commissioner asked.
He said the MCC staff have launched the drive in some areas on Monday and they would continue with their drive in the coming days, imposing a fine of ₹2,000, with problems being rampant in some parts of the city.
