No end to water woes even on Christmas day

Kochi: This Christmas, many residents in various parts of the city, including Vaduthala, Pachalam, Cheranellore, and Vyttila, have to do without water or pay a huge price to purchase it, as the supply to these places was disrupted for the past couple of weeks. Though the residents knocked at the doors of KWA authorities, they failed to do much to resolve the woes.
TJ Vinod MLA has taken up the issue with the water resources minister Roshy Augustine. "I called up the minister and appraised him of the situation. He has promised to step in to resolve the issue," Vinod said. "Around 10,000 people in Pachalam, Vaduthala, and Cheranellore are affected by the water scarcity. The back-to-back pipe bursts in the city have worsened the situation. The authorities are doing nothing to replace old, dilapidated pipelines in the city. The govt has been sitting on the proposal to construct a 190 MLD water treatment plant at Aluva for the past several years. The construction of the plant is key in providing adequate water to the people in the city and the suburbs," he added.
In the absence of water supplied by the KWA, the residents are forced to depend on the supply by water tankers. "I get around 200 calls a day from the residents seeking help to ensure smooth water supply. People in Vaduthala have not been getting KWA's water for the past two weeks. Residents of Janatha Colony, Erattakulangara Road, KS Udayan Road, Kannampilly Road, Link Park Rd, and P J Antony Road are raising complaints," said Mini Vivera, councillor from Vaduthala.
"We procure water from private supply agencies. At least two tanker trucks of 5,000-litre capacity supply water on behalf of Kochi corporation in the Vaduthala area alone every day," Vivera said.
According to the KWA officials, the frequent pipe bursts caused disruption in water supply. They said that the supply is back to normal and it will take a few more days for the water to reach the tail-end areas.