Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Water Authority (KWA) took up works on Ambalamukku-Muttada-Paruthippara stretch to replace old premo pipes. Now around a year later, leaks are still troubling KWA. While KWA officials claim that leaks are reported only in the old pipelines, residents say that leaks are common in new pipelines too.
On Thursday when TOI visited the site, workers engaged by KWA were busy digging portions of the road at
Paruthippara. “Now the works are on to plug the old premo pipes and its connectivity to the distribution lines. Some distribution lines have connections to the old premo line. So even after it was abandoned, the water from the newly laid pipeline flowed to the old line through these distribution lines. So now we have started plugging the premo pipe lines,” said a KWA official.
In fact, it was the laxity from the part of KWA that created the whole issue. Kesavadasapuram councillor Stephy J George said that the projects wing of KWA had to decommission the old line at the time of commissioning of the new line. “However, leaks are not reported only on the old line. The materials used for pipeline connections in houses are of low quality,” she said.
KWA officials said that the leaks were reported in line laid to individual houses as it could not be laid too deep under the road. “When the rollers were used for
road works, it burst,” said KWA officials.
“The residents must understand that this is a major work that needs enough time. Now the projects’ wing has handed over the works to maintenance wing. Immediate tarring means the contractor does not have to worry about further maintenance. Even now, the final maintenance works would require over a week. However, it will have to be completed in two days, which means the leak has to be minimized through valve control,” said a source.
