THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pinarayi Vijayan might not be aware. Cliff House, the official residence of the Chief Minister, was getting its water supplied by tankers till recently.
Not anymore. KWA has resolved the issue on August 22, giving Shijo and Sharath, employees of Cliff House entrusted with ensuring water supply, peaceful sleep at night.
“It was a hassle to call KWA helpline for tanker supply. The tankers may not be available on-demand,” said Shijo. The Cliff House that comes under Kowdiar subdivision of KWA, had water supply issue for almost 45 days.
It required 10 loads of water every day. When 4.6 million litres per day (MLD) water was pumped to the main pipeline to Vellayambalam that supplies water to Cliff house, the issue was addressed.
However, the problem was not confined to Chief Minister or the nine ministerial houses inside the residential complex.
The entire region suffered due to insufficient supply of water from pumping station. Belhaven Gardens, Jawahar Nagar, Keston Road, Devaswom Board, Mudavanmukal, Kanakanagar are some of the regions that suffer from water shortage.
“We have increased the water supply from the tank in PTP Nagar to Vellayambalam. By ensuring 10 MLD from the water supplied from Aruvikara, most of the issues can be resolved,” said KWA executive engineer, Public Health Division (North), R V Santhosh Kumar.
Even Raj Bhavan which is the official residence of Governor P Sathasivam, located just over a kilometer from Cliff house too faced the issue.
The engineers at Kerala Water Authority tweaked the wall chamber at Vellayambalam junction to draw direct lines to resolve water scarcity in Raj Bhavan.
Similar measures were taken to resolve the issue at Cotton Hills Girls Higher Secondary School. “By rectifying supplies to Cliff House, Raj Bhavan and Cotton Hill school we managed to withdraw 25 tanker lorries from supply duty,” said a KWA officer.
The city gets 74 MLD of water from Aruvikara. The water goes to tanks in Vattiyoorkavu, Nettayam, PTP Nagar and Iranimuttom.
“The tank at PTP Nagar needs to be opened for the Vellayambalam pipeline at a height of 3.3 metres till it reaches 2.8 metres, for sufficient water supply to 1.49 lakh water connections in the region,” said a source.