Pilloor scheme: simultaneous maintenance of feeders supplying power to motors threatens to hit water supply

A month ago, the Coimbatore Corporation was unable to draw water from the Pilloor Reservoir for a day as the Tangedco that supplies power to the water-pumping motors had snapped supply to take up maintenance work.

The Tangedco stopped supply to the high-tension feeder and also to the low-tension Marudhur feeder and that prevented the Corporation from operating the four motors. And, this was likely to continue in the coming months when the power distribution company would take up monthly maintenance, the Corporation sources said.

Until now, whenever the Tangedco would shut down power to take up maintenance work, it would only switch off the high-tension feeder and supply power through the low-tension feeder. This would enable the Corporation to run two or three of its four motors.

Only if four motors run 24x7, would the Corporation be able to supply 125 million litres Pilloor water to the city. The Corporation had installed six motors of 550 hp capacity each and operated the motors in turns in such a fashion that at any given point in time, four motors would be running.

The sources said that when the Tangedco supplied power through the Marudhur low-tension feeder, it operated two or three motors that ensured continuous flow of water through the Pilloor main pipeline.

If the Tangedco were to shut down both the feeders, the Corporation would be forced to discontinue pumping water for an entire day and that means that the water distribution cycle to the city would get affected.

In short, people who were getting water once-in-seven days or once-in-eight days would get water only once-in-10 days or once-in-11 days. This was because after the Tangedco would restore power, the Corporation would not switch on all four motors at once.

It would switch a motor to pump water through the mainline for at least eight hours and then switch on the second, third and fourth motors at 15 minutes interval.

This was to flush out air columns in the pipeline to prevent bursts. And, that would have a cascading effect on water supplied at the residents’ end.

The sources also said that when the Tangedco reportedly proposed at a meeting with engineers of the Corporation, the latter agreed to the proposal. A senior Corporation official, however, said that issue was not brought to his notice. If it was so, the Corporation would request the Tangedco to supply power through one of the two feeders while taking maintenance of the other so as to ensure continuous supply of Pilloor water.