Mulavukad residents grappling with drinking water scarcity

KOCHI: The residents of Mulavukad panchayat here have been facing acute drinking water scarcity for the past four days following the bursting of a major pipeline of the Kerala Water Authority near the Nirmala HSS in Aluva recently. Despite the KWA officials claiming that they had resumed regular pumping of drinking water from Aluva around 11.30am on Thursday, the situation in Mulavukad remains pretty much the same. According to the residents, the KWA had earlier told them that drinking water will be supplied in the area by Thursday evening.  

The residents also said that the issue persists in all 13 wards of the panchayat. St. Mary’s, Hospital and Thandassery, where the drinking water supply came on Friday. Although Jolly K K, executive engineer of PH Division of KWA, Aluva, had previously claimed that drinking water had been supplied on tanker lorries in the affected areas, the pamchayat residents said otherwise. 

“The KWA  has  big tankers capable of ferrying up to 10,000 litres which can only operate near the main road. Smaller tankers are needed to supply water to the interior areas of the panchayat,” said M R Madhu, former  councillor of  T V Centre ward, Mulavukad. 

According to him, the people of  ‘Mulavukad north’ (ward no. 2) were the worst hit  as they had to face acute water scarcity all through the year. He further said that people in the panchayat were greatly affected by the issue as only a small section of them had bore-wells. Since this is a recurring issue in the region,  residents of the panchayat wondered whether water was being pumped at full force from the KWA pump house at Pachalam.

“We also don’t know  whether the reduced pressure of drinking water coming through the pipes is due to any diversions being made to nearby areas,” said a resident. In a separate incident , residents of Silpasala Road in Vyttila haven’t received regular drinking water supply for over a month now.Muhammed Shafi, executive engineer of PH division, Kochi, said though pumping from Aluva resumed on Thursday night,  it will take a few more days for water to flow at  normal capacity.  It will take at least four days before the supply can reach the entire panchayat.