KOCHI: Plagued by inefficiency, the city’s water supply system has been a constant lightning rod. And with summer tightening its grip and residents at the ‘tail-end’ of the Kerala Water Authority’s network continuing to be plagued by water shortage, the situation is set to worsen.
Five of the six water-storage tanks built in various parts of the city under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme remain unutilised. The overhead tanks in Kaloor (of 40-lakh-litre capacity), Thevara (10 lakh litres), Edakochi (13 lakh litres), Pachalam (15 lakh litres), and Karuvelipady (25 lakh litres) even lack inlet and outlet pipes. The Cheranalloor (17 lakh litres) tank is the only one currently functioning.
“Inefficiency in execution of projects has led to much waste of time and energy. After the project was launched, there were a lot of problems related to construction, and the corporation had to step in to expedite work. At Cheranalloor, when a road was dug up to lay pipes it attracted a lot of criticism. But we took up the initiative at our own risk and now there is water in that facility. At Edakochi, we faced hiccups in terms of contractors abandoning work. But those were also speedily resolved, But the idle tank has negated all the efforts,” Kochi mayor M Anilkumar told TNIE.
According to the authority, water supply shortage in the city amounts to around 60-70 million litres per day (mld). The unscientific configuration of distribution networks and pipelines has been cited as a key reason for the situation.
According to KWA, the water tanks lying unutilised were proposed as part of the 190-mld plant in Aluva, which remains on paper. “The Aluva facility was proposed in 2015 as a solution to water shortage in the city. The tanks were built to accommodate the excess water expected to be generated by the project,” an executive engineer with the authority said. Since the tanks have not been able to serve their original purpose, experts say that they can now be used as pressure boosters, to ensure that water supply reaches every end of the network.