The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Parts of capital go without water

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Sunday, Jun 01, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Parts of capital go without water

Staff Reporter

KWA working to plug leak on 1,200-mm line

Pumping was stopped on Friday night
KWA terminates 19 water connections

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Parts of the city to which drinking water was supplied from the reservoir at Peroorkada went without water on Saturday as officials of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) worked to plug a leak in the 1,200-mm cast iron pipeline bringing water from Aruvikkara to Peroorkada.

Though the leak was pinpointed late on Friday night, it took the KWA workers the whole of Saturday to fix the leak.

“The repair work involves stuffing the leak with lead. Loose and wet earth around the pipeline made the job all the more risky,” a KWA engineer said on Saturday. Pumping on this line was stopped shortly after 10 p.m. on Friday.

As such, people living in areas, including Kowdiar, Jawahar Nagar, Kuravankunam, Pattom, Kesavadasapuram, Peroorkada, Ambalamukku, Ulloor, Medical College, Vayalikkada and Manvila, woke up to dry taps and near-empty tanks/sumps on Saturday.

The supply of piped water to these areas was already on a downswing the past week due to the leak at Aruvikkara. It took the KWA the better part of a week to pinpoint the leak. As many as six earth-movers were used to scoop away the mud that had been deposited over the area beneath which the pipeline passes.

The earth was initially dug up by workers of the JBIC scheme for scheme-related construction activities at Aruvikkara and later deposited at the said location.

Repair work on the 1,200-mm line continued late into Saturday night and it was not immediately clear when normal pumping would be resumed.

Meanwhile, special squads of the KWA on Saturday terminated as many as 19 water connections in the city that were either unauthorised or taken in violation of existing norms.

The four squads were led by as many executive engineers. A press note issued here said the squads also focused on finding out whether drinking water was being used for any unauthorised purposes at these places or whether there was excessive consumption of water.

Inspections were carried out at 120 places, including in apartment complexes, shops and in construction sites. At some sites, it was found that the ‘casual connection’ taken during the time of the construction of the building had not been regularised since. At other sites it was found that the building owner had taken an unauthorised water connection bypassing the water meter.

The buildings where connections were terminated on Saturday include the SUT Hospital, the Condor Plaza apartment complex and the PRS Court and SP Great Days apartments at Panavila, the press note said.

The raids would continue in the coming days, the press note added.

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