City saves 70 million litres water

Coimbatore: The French firm incharge of implementing 24x7 water supply project has helped the city save about 70 million litres water by fixing more than 8,200 pipeline leakages ever since it took up the responsibility of maintaining water distribution system in 60 wards of the city corporation limits in January 2019.
A source privy to the development said, “Workers were scared and hesitant to work because of the pandemic. Suez India Pvt Ltd had to reassure them to get back to work. It has fixed more than 1,000 pipeline leakages in the past four months alone, despite the lockdown.”
A couple of days ago, it had carried out five major pipeline repair works on Sathy main road, Dr Nanjappa road, Government Arts college road, near Omni bus stand and near textool bridge, where it replaced butterfly valve of the main feeder pipeline.
Referring to the replacement of butterfly valve, the source said, “It was clogged with floating balls and it was not operated for more than a decade. As the pipeline is more than 50 years old, finding a replacement for the damaged part in the market itself is difficult. By replacing the valve, the water supply to Puliyakulam and surrounding areas have been improved.”
Meanwhile, the spike in Covid-19 cases has hindered leakage detection work as some areas have been cordoned off as containment zones. The city corporation has been making alternative arrangements to ensure uninterrupted water supply to those areas. “There were instances when areas were sealed immediately after workers fixing leakages there,” the source said indirectly hinting at the risk they were facing. Pointing out that they have been adhering to all precautionary measures, including thermal screening of workers, the source said none of the workers were tested positive for the virus so far.
The source said the major complaints that they had been receiving were related to water contamination, pipeline leakages and low water pressure during supply. “Identifying the source of contamination is challenging at times. Because, illegal water connections are taken just by drilling a hole in the pipeline. It may also happen due to improper closure of old connections. The issues would be completely sorted out with the replacement of pipelines.”