KOCHI: Kochi city has been reeling under a shortage of drinking water for the past few weeks, as the authorities failed to supply sufficient water across the city. Kochi Mayor M Anilkumar stated that the corporation is doing everything possible to provide drinking water in tankers.
A meeting convened by the Minister of Water Resources, Roshy Augustine, has directed Kerala Water Authority (KWA) to supply drinking water in tankers till the motors are repaired at the Pazhoor pump house. “The water shortage issue will take some more time to be resolved. The officials of Kerala Water Authority said that all the three motor pumps at the Pazhoor pump house need to be repaired, and it will take more than a week,” the Kochi mayor said.
He also said that there was confusion regarding the distribution of drinking water.
“Minister Roshy Augustine has called a meeting to discuss Kochi City’s water shortage. At the meeting, he said that KWA is responsible for supplying water to the citizens and not the local self-government. Therefore, until the repair work on the motor pump is done, the expense of distributing drinking water in tanker lorries should be borne by KWA,” said the mayor. “For easy distribution, the minister had formed a team comprising executive engineers of KWA and assistant engineer of Pallimukk as a nodal agency. The district collector was tasked with arranging tanker lorries for distribution to KWA,” he added.
“However, at a meeting called by the district collector, KWA officials informed her that the local government must fund tanker lorries, and water can be collected from various KWA hydrants,” the mayorexplained.”It was a clear miscommunication. The officials of KWA are asked to prepare a schedule to distribute water in each locality facing a water shortage. Until the issue is resolved, the local self-government and KWA will ensure the supply of high-quality drinking water,” he added.
Collector's directive
District Collector Renu Raj on Tuesday asked the Kochi Corporation, Maradu municipality, Chellanam, Kumbalangi and Kumbalam panchayats to distribute water at their respective areas following disruption in water supply due to problems with the Kerala Water Authority’s pumps. The water authority has also started the supply of drinking water in tanker lorries, she said. Following instructions from Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine, water will be distributed in small tanker lorries, she said.