HYDERABAD: The Krishna Drinking Water Supply Phase-I pipeline burst yet again on Tuesday night making millions of gallons of water go down the drain at a time when the city is facing acute drinking water shortage.
Since the commissioning of the three phases of KDWSP, nearly 42 incidents of leakage and pipeline burst have been reported. This time, the leak occurred on the 2,200-mm-dia pipeline on the Karmanghat-Champapet stretch of Inner Ring Road, flooding the nearby areas.
Local people and commuters had a harrowing time as water gushed at a high pressure onto the roads and even into some shops and houses. Officials of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, led by director (technical) PSS Suryanaryana, rushed to the spot to plug the leakages. Pumping of water was stopped at once but the already pumped water continued to gush out.
This affected supply of drinking water to Karmanghat, Santosh Nagar, Saidabad, Chaderghat, Champapet, Dilsukhnagar, Malakpet, Chilakalaguda, Musheerabad, Narayanaguda, Ramkote, Koti, Esamia Bazar Boggulakunta and some other areas.
HMWS&SB officials told Express that the 14-km-long ring main line from Sahebnagar to the Mailardevpally pumping station was laid with pre-stressed concrete cement (PSC) pipes which have become prone to leakages. A staggering number of 42 pipeline bursts and leakages took have taken place in the last few years, resulting in wastage of a few thousand million gallons of water at a time when the reservoirs levels are precariously low.
The water board has suggested that the concrete pipes be replaced with mild steel (MS) pipes as a solution. It had written to the department of municipal administration and urban development eight months ago, seeking funds for pipes replacement but to no avail.
Red -tapism
For 8 months govt has been sitting on water board’s proposal for replacement of concrete pipes with steel pipes