The pipeline as part of the Alappuzha drinking water project has burst again, damaging the Ambalappuzha-Thiruvalla road and disrupting water supply to thousands of houses in the Alappuzha municipal area and nearby grama panchayats.
The latest burst occurred near the Kelamangalam bridge on Tuesday night. A. Sheeja, project manager, Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT), said repair work had commenced and they hoped to restore the water supply by Friday.
The pipeline burst damaged a portion of the road, which forced the authorities to regulate traffic. The water also entered a few shops in the area. The damaged portion was restored for one-way traffic by Wednesday noon. Officials of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation said the bus service through the Ambalappuzha-Thiruvalla road had been restored after suspending it for several hours.
50 times already
The Alappuzha drinking water project was executed by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) with Central assistance under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) in 2017. However, since its launch, pipelines under the project have burst more than 50 times, majority of them at Thakazhy and Kelamangalam, in the past three-and-a-half years, disrupting the water supply to residents in Alappuzha municipality and eight nearby grama panchayats along with damaging the Ambalappuzha-Thiruvalla road.
A high-level meeting convened by Water Resources Minister K. Krishnankutty in November 2019 had decided to replace the defective pipeline in three months. Although the KWA prepared a tentative schedule for starting the pipe-relaying work on March 18, 2020, the work failed to take off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the plan, 1,524 m of the defective pipeline will have to be replaced. This includes 1,084 m of faulty pipeline at Thakazhy and another 440 m at Kelamangalam. Officials with the UIDSSMT said they now hoped to begin the work soon.
KRFB nod awaited
“The pipes needed for the work have already been brought to the work site. The Ambalappuzha- Thiruvalla road needs to be dug up for the pipeline work. Several months ago we submitted an estimate to the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), the owner of the road, for restoring it after completing the work. However, the KRFB is yet to give its nod to the estimate. Although the Public Works Department has already given its nod through a government order, we are awaiting the permission from the KRFB to start the work,” said an official.
Officials said that 1,000-mm high-density polyethylene pipe would be replaced with 900-mm mild steel pipe.
