KOCHI: A day after the collapse of a key storage tank at the Thammanam pump house, water supply to major parts of the city was partially restored by Tuesday afternoon as the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) resumed pumping operations utilising the remaining tank at the site.
The massive ground-level water tank had collapsed early on Monday, severely impacting the water distribution network in nearly 30% of the Kochi corporation area and the adjacent Cheranalloor panchayat.
The collapsed tank, a 40-year-old structure with a capacity of 1.3 crore litres, sent a gushing flood of approximately 1.15 crore litres of water across the residential area behind the pump house. Subsequently, regions like Vyttila, Petta, Vaduthala and Pachalam were left facing an acute water shortage.
“KWA worked on a war footing and managed to resume operations at the Thammanam pump house. A successful trial run of the temporary supply system was completed this afternoon and the water supply restored,” Industries Minister P Rajeeve, who is in charge of Ernakulam district, said.
Earlier, Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine had asked the authorities to ensure that the pumping schedule—previously running for seven hours with both tanks in operation—is maintained for the same duration, but now split into multiple phases.
This critical strategy aims to manage the flow and pressure distribution across the reduced network capacity, a senior KWA official said.
Despite the partial restoration, KWA officials cautioned that it will take another one week for the situation to become normal, especially to ensure a smooth water flow to areas near the tail ends of the pipeline.
“For households that may still face difficulties (in tail-end areas), the KWA will arrange for water to be transported directly to their homes via tankers, guaranteeing that every resident receives their essential daily supply,” Roshy said.
In areas inaccessible to tankers, small tanks with capacities of 5,000 to 10,000 litres will be placed nearby.
A preliminary probe by experts, including a team led by Job Thomas, head of the department of civil engineering, Cusat, pointed to structural failure as the root cause of the tank collapse.
The soil erosion is suspected to have been caused by a leakage in the 40-year-old tank structure.