Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

45 tanker lorries to supply water

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Forty-five tanker lorries would be pressed into service to supply water to areas of the city coming under the Kerala Water Authority’s (KWA) Peroorkada distribution zone on January 10 when pumping from the old treatment plant at Aruvikkara would be stopped to facilitate repair of a leaking water line.

The shutdown will begin at 10 a.m.

The city Corporation, the office of the District Collector and the KWA will jointly manage the operations of the tanker lorries.

The Corporation councillors concerned will be tasked with identifying the areas to be serviced by the tanker lorries.

The entire operation would be monitored from a KWA control room at Vellayamabalam. On that day, the filling of water tankers would be done at the KWA facility at Vellayambalam instead of Aruvikkara.

These decisions were taken at a meeting chaired on Tuesday by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs M. Vijayakumar.

The meeting discussed ways to reach drinking water in adequate quantities to areas under the Peroorkada zone.

The leak in the 48-inch cast iron pumping main line was detected more than a month ago.

Repair work was not done, as a suitable time for shutdown of pumping could not be identified, KWA officials said. The line is laid at a depth of more than 12 metres and the leak is located at a point where the line is supported by an ‘anchor block’ fashioned out of concrete.

“We have to chip away the concrete structure to reach the damaged portion of the line which is located in a bend.

“We would be able to determine the exact nature of the damage only after breaking open the anchor. If the line has a crack, then the shutdown will go past midnight on January 10. We would have to replace that section of the line with a pre-fabricated piece of mild steel pipe. This will take time,” a senior KWA engineer said here on Wednesday.

The areas to which water supply would be hit on January 10 include Peroorkada, Mananthala, parts of Sasthamangalam, Kowdiar, Kuravankonam, Vayalikkara, Choozhampala, Paruthippara, Nalanchira, Kesavadasapuram, parts of Medical College, Sreekariyam, Kulathoor, Manvila, Pallipuram and Akkulam.

Large parts of the city will have to go without piped water supply on January 17 when there will be another shutdown at Aruvikkara, this time at the 84-mld treatment plant at Chithirakkunnu. This is to effect an interconnection of pipes carrying treated water from this plant and from the 72-mld plant that is being built there as part of the Japan Bank for International-aided scheme.

Once the new plant becomes, operational the interconnection will allow treated water from one plant to be diverted to the other in the eventuality of a breakdown/shutdown in one plant. All pipelines being used for the interconnection are those made of mild steel.

According to KWA officials, the shutdown which will begin on the morning of January 17 will continue till midnight.

The areas that will be affected by water supply disruption on January 17 include parts of Sasthamangalam, Thirumala, PTP Nagar, Pangode, Jagathy Vazhuthacaud, Thycaud, Palayam, Statue, Pulimoodu, Ayurveda College, Kunnumpuram, Thampanoor, Karamana, Valiasala, Thamalam, Kalady, Shanghumughom, Chakka, the airport (partly), areas near the VSSC and parts of Valiathura, Kerala Water uthority officials added.

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