THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: City dwellers in Thiruvananthapuram are a harried lot after taps have gone dry in several areas. Consumers complain about lack of accountability from the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) as it’s alleged that they are unable to provide drinking water through the new pipeline as the valve might be on the opposite side of the road which the public works department will not permit to cut.
Another irony is that the KWA does not initiate immediate maintenance work when a leakage occurs, losing precious drinking water for days.
Mary Samuel, a resident belonging to Kaithamukku Residents Association, had a harrowing time for close to five days with the KWA pipeline going dry without any notice. With less than 2,000 litre storage capacity at her home, her family had to rely on tanker lorry water which was provided by the KRA to 300 houses in the area. She told TNIE that they had to depend on hotel food all these days adding to her woes, and took bath in half a bucket of water during the scorching summer.
Another resident alleged that water supply was disrupted as the new pipeline laid could not be connected as the PWD played spoilsport. He told TNIE that after five days the old pipeline was reinstated. P S Gayatri, an IT engineer working in Technopark and residing at Kulathoor, too had similar experiences to share with TNIE.
“Since my family is living in a rented house, there is less drinking water storage facility. If drinking water supply is disrupted for more than two days, I would have to look for some other alternative,” said Gayatri.
While a mid-level engineer working in Pattoor section of the KWA told TNIE that drinking water supply in Kaithamukku was affected due to shutdown at Vazhuthacaud following the work of Smart City project.
“Despite KRA being a low-lying area, they felt the crunch owing to the shutdown experienced early this week. But now we have reinstated the connection there and things are back to normal”, said a KWA official.
KWA had informed of a major shutdown at Muttada junction and also at Thattinakam bridge on Thursday until Friday and in high altitude areas drinking water supply will be reinstated only on Saturday. The irony is that the leakage was spotted on Tuesday and the maintenance work has started only in the wee hours of Thursday which reveals a serious issue of wastage of water. A KWA official belonging to the Kaudiar section office told TNIE that fortunately they managed to resolve the issue at Ambalamukku as they had to remove only a shutter there.
“Currently the work on Muttada-Paruthippara stretch and also at Edavacode is going on. It is a major work on 900 mm pipeline. We are trying to complete the maintenance work by Friday evening. We will have to alert the consumers of a major shutdown when maintenance work lasts for a few days. Hence we cannot initiate the repair work immediately after a leakage is spotted. We ensure that the valve is closed instantly”, said a KWA official.
Ironical leaks
KWA had informed of a major shutdown at Muttada junction and also at Thattinakam bridge on Thursday until Friday. The irony is that the leakage was spotted on Tuesday and the maintenance work has started only in the wee hours of Thursday which reveals a serious issue of wastage of water
