The work to replace the defective pipeline under the Alappuzha drinking water project is moving at a tardy pace.
Officials of the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) said here on Saturday that around 240 metres of pipeline had been laid since the work began a month ago.
The work is being carried out by digging the Ambalapuzha-Thiruvalla road. The plan is to lay 1,200 metres of 900-mm mild steel pipe at Kelamangalam and Thakazhi in 50 days. “We have so far laid 40 pipes. Though the pipe-laying work is making progress, it is not moving fast enough. High water table and delay in shifting electric poles are among the issues that are hindering the work. Pipelines are laid 2.25 metres underground. Due to the ongoing paddy cultivation in nearby fields, water is present at a depth of 1.5 metres which makes digging difficult. Pumps have been deployed to drain water,” said an official of the UIDSSMT.
The Alappuzha drinking water project was executed by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) with Central assistance under the (UIDSSMT) in 2017. However, since its launch, pipelines under the project had burst more than 60 times, majority of them at Thakazhi, in the past four years, disrupting the water supply to residents in Alappuzha municipality and eight nearby grama panchayats, along with damaging the Ambalappuzha-Thiruvalla road.
The ongoing work has not affected the pumping and water supply. However, the KWA will stop pumping in the next phase of the work to link the new and old pipelines. It has been decided to introduce alternative measures to supply drinking water to consumers. Residents, however, fear that a delay in finishing the pipe-laying work along with possible disruption in water supply during the next phase of the work would aggravate the drinking water crisis in the region in the middle of summer.
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Printable version | Mar 12, 2022 7:59:17 pm | https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/pipe-laying-work-makes-slow-progress/article65217734.ece