THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Apipe burst was reported in Swathi Nagar near the Cordon Sreevalsam Apartments in Pipinmoodu. The leakage had first occurred in the area on Thursday morning after which Kerala Water Authority fixed the pipe. The very next day at 5.30 am, the pipe burst. Water overflew along onto the Pipinmoodu junction in the wee hours of Friday.
“There was no water on Thursday in the afternoon. Water supply was restored only at 7.15 pm after KWA workers completed work. Again, a problem occurred this morning and we do not have water. A huge leak had occurred in the same area about one-and-a-half years ago,” said Ramendran M. According to Krishnan Nair, a resident, poor maintenance of the roads is the main reason. “Heavy vehicles travel through the road frequently, which might have caused the pipe to break.”
Muraleedharan K, ward councillor, Kowdiar, said: “Work has been completed. It took about three hours. At 1.00 pm the valve was opened.”Bipin Thomas, assistant engineer, Peroorkada water authority said: “The main pipe is connected to PVC pipes near the Cordon Sreevalsam apartment. These pipes are connected using rubber rings that corrode over time. Yesterday we had closed the area with concrete, but due to the incessant rains on Thursday, the area got covered with rocks damaging the concrete floor and causing the leak”.
R V Santosh Kumar, executive engineer, said: “Even though the leak occurred at night, we were notified about it in the morning. Due to the leak, water supply in Vellayambalam was affected in the morning hours on Friday. We have rectified the issue and from tomorrow water flow will be normal.”