KOCHI:The Kerala Water Authority on Tuesday submitted before the Kerala High Court that the state government has sanctioned Rs 3 crore for replacing the old and damaged pipelines in Fort Kochi, Mattancherry and Thoppumpady.
The KWA filed the affidavit in response to a petition seeking a directive to provide potable water to the people in West Kochi. The KWA stated that new 100 MLD capacity water supply scheme under JNNURM project was nearing completion.
With the commissioning of the project, 100 MLD of water would be available for distribution in the areas. The authority would carry out rectification works on the pipeline through annual maintenance contract in all divisions of the Kochi Corporation. Periodical cleaning of all the overhead tanks and sumps are also incorporated in the contract.
It submitted that the distribution lines were passing through drains and canals in West Kochi areas. In fact, many of the pipelines in the areas were about 45 years old. Therefore, any leak in the pipelines leads to seepage of dirty water into the distribution network. Besides, the people in some areas were taking water using hand pumps and motor sets. This creates vacuum inside the pipelines, increasing the possibility of entering waste water into the line.
The KWA had taken steps to fix leakages and efforts had been made to create public awareness about the dangers of using hand pumps for sucking water from the distribution network and consequent contamination of drinking water. Periodical inspections were also conducted by the officers and super chlorination at tail ends were undertaken. Besides, the quality control wing of the KWA was randomly making inspections in the entire distribution.
A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A M Shaffique disposed of the petition in view of the submission made by KWA.