The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) on Sunday cleaned its pipelines which had got contaminated after a petroleum product that leaked from a BPCL pipeline at Ponnurunni entered the adjacent water supply line, spreading panic among hundreds of families in Vyttila and nearby areas in the past few days.
“We recharged the pipelines on Sunday afternoon with purified water from our pump house. The pipeline at Ponnurunni that got contaminated and had to be isolated will be discarded and a new parallel pipeline laid to direct water to consumers. An estimate in this regard is being readied, and the expenses will be taken up with BPCL, KWA sources said.
In the meantime, BPCL acknowledged a leak in its pipeline at Ponnurunni through which petroleum products from the berthing jetty for ships reach the refinery. “It was promptly plugged, and there is no leak as of now,” it said.
The two agencies had dug multiple spots at Ponnurunni to identify the source of leak. Crude oil-like liquid was detected on Saturday at a few spots that were dug.
