Residents of several areas in Thiruvananthapuram were left with no water supply for the fourth consecutive day as the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) could not fully restore the supply. The disruption was caused by the pipeline realignment of 500 mm and 700 mm pipes by KWA. The pipes had to be shifted due to the railway doubling on the Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari line. The water supply was fully disrupted in 33 and partially disrupted in 11 corporation wards from September 5.
Although the water pumping had resumed on Sunday morning, it had stopped again after a leak was detected in one of the pipes. To address the issues, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has opened a control room in the city.
Minister for Water Resources, Roshy Augustine, announced that water pumping from Aruvikkara, a village near the city, will commence at 4 pm, and the issues are expected to be resolved by evening.
“We can't say no to the railway, and the time to replace the pipes took more time than expected. In the future, we will be more cautious when carrying out such activities. However, water is being delivered by tankers to as many areas as possible. By evening, we expect to resolve this issue completely,” the Minister told the media.
On Saturday, September 7, Labour Minister V Sivankutty met with residents and assured them that water supply would resume by Sunday morning, but the leak in the pipe delayed the resumption of water supply.
Speaking with the media, some residents said they were relocating from their houses due to the lack of water. “We didn’t expect this disruption to last so many days. Some of the residents have left for their relatives’ homes after being unable to get even drinking water,” a resident said.
“We bought water bottles yesterday, but now the shops have run out of bottles. We are planning to relocate until the issue is resolved,” another person said.