BENGALURU:A Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) official said on Saturday that the huge vehicular traffic of the city was causing the old pipelines laid by the board to burst, giving rise to potholes.
Replacement of pipes that are nearly 50 years old, undertaken as part of the ongoing Unaccounted For Water Project, is the only permanent solution to do away with potholes, says S Krishnappa, Engineer-in-Chief, BWSSB.
“The pipes are not able to withstand the pressure caused due to the vehicles, particularly, with the huge quantity of goods being transported on the roads daily,” he said. “They are Cast Iron pipes which are more than four inches in diameter and were not intended to withstand this kind of pressure when they were designed 50 years ago,” he said. The pipes are being replaced with Ductile Iron pipes under the project going on in Bengaluru West, South and Central, Krishnappa added. The project covers 120 sq km of the city’s 800 sq km. It aims at reducing the 48 per cent water leakage that the city is witnessing.
“These new pipelines will be linked together with Tyton joints, which are very strong, unlike the spigot and socket joints used in the earlier pipes,” he said.
But will this involve redigging of roads after the BBMP makes it free of potholes? “Not at all. We will be carrying out the underground pipeline laying work in the corner of the footpath where the road ends. We are not going to touch the roads,” he added. The Board will undertake the responsibility of restoring the areas, he said.
Areas under the South Division where work is carried out by L & T are Jayanagar, J P Nagar, Chamarajpet, Padmanabhanagar, BTM Layout, Banashankari 2nd and 3rd Stages and Basavanagudi. “Work here will be completed in six months,” Krishnappa said.
Work in Bengaluru West covers Vijayanagar, R P C Layout, Ramamurthy Nagar, Sadashivanagar and Malleswaram and will take two years to be completed. Private concern SPML Infra is carrying out the work. Work in Central Bengaluru will also be completed in two years, he added.