The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : KWA to issue notice to Hydrotech

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Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

KWA to issue notice to Hydrotech

G. Mahadevan

Pipe burst at Vayalikkada; water supply restored

Photo: S. Mahinsha

CITY’s LIFE LINE: The damaged pipeline at Vayalikkada in the city which was repaired on Tuesday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The bursting of the 400 mm HDPE pipeline—laid as part of the Theerapadhom scheme—near Vayalikkada junction has yet again focussed public attention on the manner in which pipelines were laid in the city as part of this scheme.

The burst line reaches water to the Medical College Hospital (MCH) from a 900 mm line that originates from the Kerala Water Authority (KWA’s) reservoir at Peroorkada. The burst took place a few feet away from the point where the HDPE line is connected to the 900 mm pipe. The supply of water to the MCH was partially affected on Monday and Tuesday as a result of the burst.

KWA Engineers, including its Managing Director Suresh Babu, who inspected the damaged line, said the line was laid at a very shallow depth and this was the reason for the burst. “The line has been laid at a depth of less than a foot. At such a depth the load of a vehicle passing overhead will bear down directly on this pipe. This was a burst waiting to happen,” a KWA engineer supervising the repair work on the burst line said on Tuesday.

Two ‘brackets’ fashioned out of mild steel were placed over the damaged portion of the pipeline. The brackets cost the KWA close to Rs.15,000.

Mr. Suresh Babu told The Hindu that the KWA would issue a notice to Hydrotech, the company that laid the pipelines for the Theerapadhom scheme. “When the line at Chalakkuzhy burst repeatedly a few months ago, we thought of re-laying the Theerapadhom lines. But then that would have been a new line; we would then have destroyed evidence of Hydrotech’s actions,” he said.

KWA engineers, who spoke on the issue, were of the view that the line at Vayalikkada should be re-laid—at an enhanced depth—to prevent repeated bursts. “The depth of the line is just one issue. I also have my suspicions about the quality of the HDPE lines that have been used,” a senior engineer said.

Minister for Water Resources N.K. Premachandran said there was widespread dissatisfaction over the quality of the work carried out by Hydrotech as part of the Theerapadhom scheme. The KWA was doing repair work on these lines as the government did not want repeated disruptions in water supply, he said.

Regular supply of water in the repaired line was restored on Tuesday afternoon.

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