Pipeline burst in Aluva leaves several areas deprived of drinking water

KOCHI: The residents of Kunnumpuram, Vaduthala, Elamakkara, Chittoor and Mulavukad have been facing a severe shortage of potable water for the past three days after a Kerala Water Authority pipeline burst on Tuesday near the Nirmala HSS in Aluva. Water supply was running short in areas like Thammanam, Chakkaraparambu, Chalikkavattam, Ponnurunni, Vyttila and Chambakkara too. Residents of the affected areas also questioned the delay on the part of KWA in sending its tanker lorries to ensure water supply.

“The tankers arrived only on Wednesday. As there are no borewells in the area, most of the residents were forced to call private tankers and arrange other vehicles to get drinking water,” said Rajeev M R, former standing committee chairman of Mulavukad panchayat. All 16 wards in the panchayat are facing acute water shortage, he said.Jolly K K, executive engineer of PH Division of KWA (Aluva), attributed the delay in fixing the pipe to the difficulty in removing it.

“The broken pipe is an old 1,050mm wide cast iron pipe which workers found difficult to cut because of its thickness. It could be removed only by Wednesday. The joints for the pipe also needed to be constructed according to its size,” Jolly said.She said KWA has been supplying drinking water to the affected areas in the district through its tanker trucks.

“Panchayats have also been helping us supply water in certain areas,” she added.While the rupture of the KWA transmission line was the reason behind water shortage in most areas, around 60 houses on Silpasala road near the Chambakkara bridge have been experiencing the issue for more than a month.

“We don’t get drinking water on most days, forcing people to store water required to meet their needs for several days,” said Chandrasekharan M N, a resident of the area.He said they were unable to figure out the issue of water scarcity. Ajith Kumar, KWA assistant engineer, Vyttila said, “We are not aware of the issue. I will conduct an inspection in the area on Friday.”